



'•\^^ 






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SCRIPTURAL EXAMINATION 



OF THE 



mSTITUTION OF SLAYERY 



UNITED STATES; 



OBJECTS AND PURPOSES. 



r 
BY HOWELL'cOBB 



ios^^' 



GEOEaiA: 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 
1856. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

HOWELL COBB, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court, for the Southern District of Georgia. 



FREF^CE. 



The particular object of this work. 

We have not undertaken to write the general history of 
slavery, nor the history of slavery in the United States ; the 
extent of our undertaking is, to shov7 the purposes for which 
African slavery was instituted, in so far as the United States 
stand connected with it. There arc two propositions of es- 
sential importance, and which never must be lost sight of, 
in the investigation of this subject, to wit : 

1. African slavery is a 'punishment, injiicted upon tJie enslaved^ 
for their loickedness. — The proper understanding of this pro- 
position requires that we should keep steadily before the 

I mind the fact, that nations, communities, peoples, may and 
do sin against God, as well as individuals ; and nations, 
communities, peoples, are punishable and punished, as well 

I as individuals. The only difference is this : individuals 
may escape punishment ; they often do, in this world : their 
punishment may be postponed to the day of judgment ; but 

I nations, communities, peoples, must be punished in this 
world, for they cannot, as such, be brought into the judg- 
ment of the great day. 

2. Slavery, as it exists in the United States, is the Providen- 
tially-arranged means ^vhereby Africa is to he lifted from her 
deep degradation, to a state of civil and religious liberty. 

It must not be supposed, that in the performance of this 
task we desire to present an apology for slavery, or to con- 



4 PEEFACE. 

ciliate favor for it ; we have no such intention or object in 
view. An institution of Divine appointment does not need 
the aid of human writers, further than an explanation of its 
meaning'. 

Why should any one be astonished at slavery ? this is not 
the only time that it has been employed as a means of 
working out great purposes. God's chosen and peculiar 
people ; they who first composed the Church; they to whom 
the oracles of salvation were delivered ; they of whom the 
prophets were ; they from whom the Redeemer of the world 
sprang, were enslaved in as hard, perhaps in much harder 
bondage, than has ever been experienced by Africans in the 
United States — a bondage from which they were delivered 
only after a series of the most astonishing disj)lays of the 
Divine displeasure, inflicted upon their oppressbrs for their 
obstinacy in refusing " to let the people go." 

Nor was Eg-yptian bondage the only bondage they ex- 
perienced, for their history shows that there were repeated 
instances of captivity, during which they were subject to 
the most degrading and humiliating slavery. And their 
history further shows, that these instances of captivity were 
inflicted as punishments upon them for their unfaithfulness 
to God, in disobeying His commands. 

Nor was this mode of punishment confined to the He- 
brews ; for, the sacred record shows, that it was frequently 
threatened and inflicted upon other nations. Indeed, we 
may say, slavery has ever been a common mode of divine 
punishment inflicted upon nations. 



The Bible our authority. 
We have been directed, in the execution of the more im- 
portant portions of our undertaking, by the Bible ; that is 
our sole authority for many things which we have written 
in this volume. Men may and will question, controvert, 
and discuss, everything of human origin, and agree or 



PREFACE. 5 

disagree with their authors, as they think proper ; but when 
the Bible speaks there is an end to controversy and discus- 
sion : our duty then becomes very simple; it is — to be silent 
— to listen — to understand — to obey : for this authority no 
man may question or disregard. 

Mutation is stamped upon everything in nature, and 
everything of human origin. There is nothing immutable 
in this world, but one thing ; that is the Bible — it never 
changes : amidst the endless and unceasing change occur- 
ring, the Bible continues unchangeable. Like the sun, the 
great center of the solar system, the Bible maintains one 
position, reducing to order and quiet the confusion of the 
moral universe. Our adoration is demanded, as we see the 
wonderful Book of God adapting its lessons of instruction 
to each passing event, as if they had been prepared exclu- 
sively for that. Let changes occur as they may — let the 
aspect of society be what it will — let the conduct of indi- 
viduals assume never so strange and uncommon a charac- 
ter, the Bible meets all with a distinctness and particularity 
neither to be mistaken or misunderstood — commanding 
what ought to be done, and forbidding what ought not to be 
done, in each particular case ; at the same time leaving 
man to act as he will : hence, man's responsibility. In all 
this we see reflected forth the divinity of the Bible. 

The Bible is one word ; it teaches that the Godhead is 
composed of three persons ; namely, the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost ; hence the Bible consists of three parts; 
or more properly, of three revelations, or dispensations ; 
that is to say, 1. The revelation of the Father : under this 
dispensation the precepts of religion were made known, and 
most of the prophecies delivered. 2. The revelation of the 
Son : under this dispensation, the precepts revealed under 
the dispensation of the Father were a?npUfied, the prophe- 
cies fulfilled, and the stringency of many rules relaxed. 3. 
The revelation of the Holy Ghost : under this dispensation, 
the precepts and prophecies revealed under the dispensation 



Q PEEFACE. 

of the Father, and amplified and fulfilled under the dispen- 
sation of the Son, were spiritualized. Each of these dispen- 
sations had its ministry and ordinances, or form of worship, 
to wit : under the dispensation of the Father, ^We*^* were the 
ministers ; at the head of this ministry was the high-priest. 
Under the dispensation of the Son, apostles were the minis- 
ters ; at the head of this ministry was our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, •preachers 
are the ministers ; at the head of this ministry stands S't 
Paul. So with the ordinances under the dispensation of the 
Father, circumcision and the passover were instituted in the 
Church. Under the dispensation of the Son, baptism was ob- 
served in connection with circumcision. After the resur- 
rection of our Lord, He commanded that circumcision should 
be dropped ; or rather, that baptism alone should be con- 
tinued ; under this dispensation, too, the passover was 
changed into the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; in 
which manner these ordinances are now observed in the 
Church. These three parts form one grand and glorious 
scheme of salvation. 

Slavery was established in the Church under the first dis- 
pensation, or the dispensation of the Father, and recognized 
and regulated under all the dispensations. 



Divine Providence. 
Providence may be defined to be, God's care manifested 
in every circumstance and event, over and above all human 
sagacity and prudence. It extends to the minutest particu- 
lars and objects : " Are not two sparrows sold for a far- 
thing ? and one of them shall not fall on the ground with- 
out your Father. But the very hairs of your head are 
all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value 
than many sparrows." Very many providential occur- 
rences are profoundly mysterious, the explanations of which 
must be referred to the day of judgment, when their pro? 
priety will be made manifest. Providence is a subject 



PREFACE. 7 

requiring the profoimdest study : it neither forces human 
conduct, nor prevents it. 

The Providence of God is taught in the following Scrip- 
ture : " Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain 
that build it : except the Lord keep the city, the watchman 
waketli but in vain." The obvious meaning here, is that, 
however prudent and skilful we may be in the affairs of life, 
unless God's blessing be upon our efforts, we cannot suc- 
ceed ; whenever, therefore, success attends our efforts, w^e 
are to remember that we are indebted to Providence 
for it. 

Providence is not religion, nor is it necessarily connected 
with religion ; for, " He maketh His sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on 
the unjust." 

Although the action of Providence is to be observed in 
connection with every event, and all circumstances, yet 
every man may observe in his own case some occurrence 
purely Providential ; that is to say, some occurrence in which 
God's care, producing him good, or preserving him from 
harm, without any agency on his part, distinctly manifests 
itself. 

The manifestations of Providence, as connected with 
African slavery, are distinctly seen, in all its variations and 
in every particular. " the depth of the riches, both of the 
wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are His 
judgments, and His ways past finding out 1 " 

They who have been attentive to the workings of Provi- 
dence, have observed, that all great enterprises have their 
attendant sacrifices. The promised land was not possessed 
by the descendants of Abraham, but after overcoming in 
w^ar the fiercest struggles of the Canaanites — struggles in 
which the Israelites lost thousands of their people. The long, 
fierce and sanguinary wars with the natives and others, 
which the settlers of the United States were compelled to 
maintain — wars, in which many thousands of them were 



8 PREFACE. 

slain, attest the truth of the great fact here stated. Africa 
is not to be exempt from the common lot — she must pay for 
the great boon to be secured : and it will be seen upon con- 
sideration, that the sacrifices made by Africa, in view of the 
good to be realized, are perhaps much less than any other 
nation has been required to make. 

Let the reader contemplate well the condition of Africa ; 
let him understand fully all the particulars that make up 
that condition : every trace of an idea of God, correctly en- 
tertained, lost, so that the prophet says of her, " There is no 
God ;" every social and civil virtue extinct, and every vice 
of which the mind can conceive, adopted and practiced, and 
then measure the degradation of Africa, if he can. Now, 
the Gospel is to redeem Africa from all this — is it a large 
price that Africa pays for this incalculable good ? Is it not 
a price immeasurably below the good to be realized ? Who 
does not see that Africa is to be the beneficiary of the ar- 
rangement ? 

The idea that African slavery in the United States was to 
be beneficial to the slaves, was entertained in Georgia over 
one hundred years ago, and before that kind of slavery ex- 
isted in the colony. Then Mr. James Habersham wrote : " I 
once thought it was unlawful to keep Negro slaves, but I 
am now induced to think that God may have a higher end 
in permitting them to be brought to this Christian country, 
than merely to support their masters. Many of the poor 
slaves in America have already been made freemen of the 
heavenly Jersualem ; and, possibly, a time may come when 
many thousands may embrace the Gospel, and thereby be 
brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
Mr. Habersham was not a prophet, but he was among the dis- 
tinguished statesmen of his day. He was a humane master, 
and a sagacious and consistent Christian. 



PREFACE. 



Slavery of the Church. 

The system of slavery establislied in the Church, protects 
the life of the slave against the cruelty or wantonness of the 
master. The law says : ''And if a man smite his servant or 
his m.aid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be 
surely punished : notwithstanding, if he continue a day or 
two, he shall not be punished, for he is his money." The 
punishment to be inflicted, in case the slave died under his 
master's hand, was death. The law continues : "At the hand 
of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be 
shed ; for in the image of God made He man." It is easy 
to see, therefore, that every system of slavery which does 
not forbid the master taking the life of a slave, or using 
cruelty towards him, and which does not properly punish 
the crime when committed, is an abuse of the Divine estab- 
lishment. Such were the systems of the Roman and 
Grecian States ; such has ever been the African system ; 
and such, perhaps, were the English and French systems 
while they existed. The fact that the English system of 
African slavery did not protect the life of the slave was one 
of the most potent reasons brought forward by English 
abolitionists while urging emancipation. 

We assert, and we shall prove, that the system of slavery 
in the United States, in every feature and in every particular 
of every feature, is essentially the same as the system 
authorized by the Bible, and introduced into the church at 
the time of its organization, and continued to the present 
day. The Bible does not employ the term slave, but the 
more significant term servant. Servant is the correct term 
v/itli us ; it should be used instead of the harsher term 
slave, which is neither expressive or true. In this work, 
however, we have used the term slave, simply for con- 
venience sake, and in conformity to custom. 
1* 



10 PREFACE. 

Master. 
Webster defines this term thus : ''A man who rules, 
governs, or directs either men or business. A man who 
owns slaves is their master ; he who has servants is their 
master ; he who has apprentices is their master, as he has 
the government and direction of them." There are many very 
important obligations imposed upon masters, some by the 
municipal law, all by the Bible. These obligations form the 
sum of a master's responsibility. The municipal law and the 
Bible, therefore, are the sources from which a master is to 
learn his duty to his slaves. 

Servant 
The term slave occurs but seldom in the Bible, perhaps 
not more than twice, and in no place in the sense in which 
it is generally used by us. The terms used which denote 
slavery, are servant, bondman, bondwoman, maid, handmaid, 
&c. As there are other servants besides slaves frequently 
spoken of, we must refer to the circumstances of each par- 
ticular case, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition 
that is meant. Martindale says: '' The word [servant] gene- 
rally signifies a slave. The Hebrews had two sorts of servants 
or slaves." — See Lev. xxv. 44, 45. 



Emanci'pation of Slaves. 
England, France, and all the States of the American 
Union, possessed Negro slaves at one time. England, France, 
and the Northern States have emancipated their slaves. 
They were right in so doing, for they never looked beyond 
pecuniary advantage in possessing them. They made no 
arrangements for their slaves' moral and religious training, 
such things were never thought of ; no record testifies in 



PREFACE. 11 

their favor in this respect ; no proofs can be furnished to 
support such a pretension. By repudiating slavery, Eng- 
land, France and the Northern States, declined fartidj)aling 
in the objects, jpresent and uUimate, of the institution. They 
withdrew from this great Providential enterprise. 

In favor of English effort in the direction contemplated, 
we may be pointed to Sierra Leone. The feeble efforts made 
there do not even make a qualification of our assertion 
necessary. Let us see. During the war of the Revolution, 
many American slaves were seduced to the British army, 
then in the country. Some of them were conveyed to Eng- 
land and some to Nova Scotia. Those that went to England, 
lounging about London, in a most filthy and miserable con- 
dition, excited the sympathy of some benevolent individuals. 
These persons made efforts, which resulted in the coloniza- 
tion of the Negroes in Africa. This occurred more than 
seventy years ago. That during this long period some good 
has been done, we with pleasure acknowledge ; but not the 
amount of good that ought to have been done, by a great 
deal. Compare the good done by the colonization of Sierra 
Leone, with that done by the colonization of Liberia, and it 
will be seen that the statement we have made above needs 
no qualification. 

Liberia was colonized less than forty j^ears ago (a little 
over half the time that Sierra Leone has been colonized), 
and during the period that has intervened has passed 
through the incipient stages of government to a republic, in 
which every element of civil, intellectual, moral and religious 
improvement abounds. Her influence extends far into the 
interior, over many tribes and nations. She has accom- 
plished more during the brief period of her existence to sup- 
press the slave-trade, than the combined efforts of all 
civilized nations ever accomplished, or were likely to 
accomplish. 



12 PREFACE. 

Aholitiomsts. 

There are persons in the northern section of the Union, 
who, having no proper conceptions of the institution of 
slavery, seek to destroy it : these persons are denominated 
abolitionists. Amongst these persons there exists many 
shades of difference : 1. The freesoiler — this character, who 
will not admit that he is an abolitionist in the proper sense 
of the term, professes that he does not wish to disturb 
slavery where it exists, but opposes the enlargement of its 
area. 2. The conditional emancipationist — he professes that 
he would be satisfied if the south would pass acts of emanci- 
pation, although such acts might extend through many years. 
3. The unconditional emancipationist — he demands that acts 
of emancipation should be passed, abolishing the institution 
of slavery forthwith. 4. The amalgamationist — he demands 
that slavery should be abolished immediately — that there 
should be a division of property with the emancipated slaves 
and an amalgamation with the whites. It is a matter of 
perfect indifierence to us, to which of these phases individ- 
uals may be attached ; for we care not whether, in their 
folly, they be mild or rabid. 

Abolitionism is not a political question; it is a religious de- 
lusion ; hence, the political adjustments of the question 
have, in the end, all failed to accomplish their object. These 
adjustments have only resulted in causing abolitionism to 
assume some new aspect ; to turn its mischievous tenden- 
cies in some new direction. The profound regard which 
every American citizen should feel and manifest for the con- 
stitution, the priceless value of the union of the States, 
and the clearest, most comprehensive and conclusive argu- 
ments of anti-abolitionists, have lost their force, when ad- 
dressed to abolitionists. 

This delusion may be distinctly traced to its source — it 
sprang from misguided religious teachers ; by them it has 
been, and is now being, taught to the people. It is a fact 



PREFACE. 13 

upon which we dwell with pleasure, that munj teachers of 
religion in the northern States, have never been under the 
influence of this delusion. These cannot agree to prostitute 
their high and holy vocation to such unworthy purposes. 
Designing newspaper editors, both secular and religious, 
fond of filthy lucre (particularly in the form of black-mail) j 
have contributed largely to inflame the minds of the unin- 
formed ; thereby degrading the liberty of the press, and rob- 
bing it of its influence for good. Corrupt politicians, too, 
the basest of all, have made this delusion subservient to 
their schemes of ambition. Honest and honorable politi- 
cians, they who would not stoop to expedients so low, have 
been turned out of office and sent into private life. These 
are some of the workings of abolitionism. 

There is nothing more disgusting than abolitionism — 
nothing, we consider, more wicked and mischievous ; yet 
we confess that we do not fear it. Many very considerate 
person suppose that it will ultimately destroy the Union ; in 
this opinion we do not participate : that it would do that 
act if it could, we readily allow — w^e firmly believe ; but it 
has not vitality enough to accomplish that result, we conceive. 
We cannot, at present, be induced to believe that God, 
whose hand is so signally seen in every step of our progress, 
will allow deluded men, no matter what their numbers may 
be, or how intemperate their zeal, to consummate such great 
wickedness. The issue. Union or Abolitionism, may be pre- 
sented to the American people ; it will be, if abolitionists 
can do it. Should that issue be presented, the anti-aboli- 
tionists of the North (for their are many Union-loving peo- 
ple there, who are to be found in all the walks of life), will 
not require the aid of the South in putting down this bad 
spirit ; they will perform that very agreeable duty for them- 
selves. Whether abolitionism is to be feared or not, how- 
ever, the South must not abate one iota of its vigilance 
against it. 

It is an established fact, that the mind may become un- 



14 PREFACE. 

settled by the long and abstract consideration of any sub- 
ject upon which it may concentrate its energies. In other 
words, the mind may become insane upon one subject, while 
upon all other subjects it remains rational. An author says: 
'' Such partial derangement is the most singular feature of 
the human character : one can easily imagine that the whole 
mind should become disordered and prostrated ; but that 
one part should be deranged, while the rest retains its 
wonted vigor ; that a man should be capable to create a 
perfect phantom of the imagination, and then to reason and 
act upon it as though it were a reality, is most unaccount- 
able ; and yet such instances have frequently occurred." 
Our author goes on to state a case : " One Wood, indicted 
D'r Monro, in Westminster, for keeping him as a prisoner 
in a mad-house, when he was sane. He underwent the 
most severe examination by the defendant's counsel, with- 
out exposing his complaint ; but a physician suggested to 
Lord Mansfield to ask him what was become of the princess 
with whom he had corresponded in cherry-juice ; he showed 
in a moment what he was. He answered, that there was 
nothing at all in that, because having been (as everybody 
knew) imprisoned in a high tower, and being debarred the 
use of ink, he had no other means of correspondence but 
by writing his letters in cherry-juice, and throwing them 
into the river which surrounded the tower, where the prin- 
cess received them in a boat : on this D'r Monro was ac- 
quitted." This affords the best apology for abolitionists 
that can be made for them. 

This degree of madness is by no means incurable : for its 
cure, the people of the South possess an unfailing remedy, 
which has been applied to many patients, and which will 
never fail to be applied, whenever it becomes necessary. 
As to the efficacy of this remedy, many who have been 
cured, live to testify their gratitude, and to bless their bene- 
factors. 

The efforts of abolitionists have made no impression 



PREFACE, 15 

whatever od the institution of slavery in the United States, 
although long continued and vigorously pressed. Individ- 
ual slave-owners have been injured, but the institution re- 
mains unharmed ; it is as vigorous, firm, and flourishing, to- 
day, as it has ever been since its foundation, and so is likely 
to continue. 

Amongst the most successful schemes of mischief brought 
forth by abolitionists, may be reckoned what is familiarly 
called the Under-Ground Railroad : by this means, many 
owners have been deprived of their property by persons 
esteeming themselves, and being esteemed by their asso- 
ciates, pious. How strong must be the delusion, when pro- 
fessing Christians conceive that there is no sin in stealing ! 
There have been many punished in various ways, no doubt, 
who have been engaged in this systematized mode of vil- 
lany. A recent case has fallen under our notice : one 
McCormick, a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Synod 
of Indiana, was suspended from the ministry (a very inade- 
quate punishment) for his connection with it. This foolish 
man was not even a successful rogue ; he betrayed himself 
by boasting of his performances. 

Sometimes works of fiction (we had a specimen of this 
kind of erudition recently) make their appearance : these 
purport to be intended to inflame the popular mind, by rela- 
ting cases of hardship endured by slaves, and thereby to 
hasten the destruction of the institution. It is suspected, 
however, that the authoress of the work alluded to (with 
true Yankee shrewdness), had a more attentive eye in the 
direction of the money to be realized from the sale of her 
work, than to the success of the principles she advocated 
in it. 

Sometimes indiscreet individuals of this character propa- 
gate their sentiments on southern soil ; nothing can be 
more hazardous — this cannot, will not, he allowed. In not a 
few cases of this kind, the ofiender has received summarily 
such chastisement as would deter him from a like undertak- 



16 PREFACE. 

ing' for the future, and which v/ould be an effectual admoni- 
tion to all others in like manner disposed to offend. 

A few foreigners, of sufficient notoriety to claim our 
attention, in the exuberance of their benevolence, and with 
a philanthropy that unfortunately overlooks the squalidity 
of their own country and neighborhoods, have visited the 
United States occasionally for the purpose of our enlighten- 
ment on the subject of slavery. Among the most notorious 
of these, one George Thompson is, perhaps, the most con- 
spicuous. This man, possessing some powers of declamation, 
and much intemperate zeal, made his appearance here some 
years ago. He was the employe of some old Scotch ladies, 
not much wiser than himself, who picked him out of some 
sewer in the purlieus of Glasgow, or some other filthy place. 
It is matter of some surprise that the efforts of this aboli- 
tion agent were not extended to those they were intended 
to benefit I He confined his labors to the northern section of 
the Union, and to a very small portion of the people there, 
members of anti-slavery associations. It is, perhaps, matter 
of regret that Thompson did not extend his visits into the 
South, for it is probable had he done so, in the report he 
made to his employers, upon his return to his own country, 
he would have had the pleasure of adding some tangihle 
proofs of his personal reception. 

Of another foreigner (Hon. Miss Murray, a lady lately at- 
tached to the Court of Queen Victoria), it affords us much 
pleasure to speak in different language. This lady visited 
the South with all the prejudices of early education, and 
long-cherished convictions against us. These prejudices 
were highly inflamed "by imagined and reported cases of 
hardship, said to be common among slave-holders. She 
came, she heard, she saw for herself, and the truth worked 
an entire revolution in her opinions and feelings. It is 
matter of deep regret that Miss Murray's determination to pub- 
lish her knowledge of slavery in the United States, if it did 
not cause the alienation of her friend, nevertheless caused 



PREFACE. 17 

the cessation of tlie patronage of that friend. This is not 
only matter of regret to us, it is matter of surprise also. 
Her Majesty may have suffered herself to be persuaded tliat 
something of State-policy was involved in the course she was 
advised to pursue towards Miss Murray's book. However 
this may be, we regret the course pursued, because we 
assert that, personally, no sovereign now occupying a throne, 
is wont to be more highly regarded by the people of the 
United States than is her Britannic Majesty. 

It is supposed b^^some that we have abolitionists residing 
amongst us, who are engaged in various lucrative employ- 
ments ; the supposition is well founded. Persons thus 
situated will best consult their safety by concealing their 
opinions. This caution, however, may be unnecessary, as 
those to whom it refers understand as well as we do the 
prudent line of conduct. 

It is also proper to remark, that many persons located 
amongst us, who were formerlj^ abolitionists — made so by 
the false teachings to which they were confined — have, since 
they became acquainted with the practical operations of the 
institution of slavery, and its objects, thoroughly changed 
their opinions, and are now as trustworthy on the subject, 
as if they had never been imposed upon. 

It is impossible to conceive the amount of mischief abo- 
litionism has done, and is seeking to do. Its broad slime- 
trace is to be seen in every direction. It invades the 
sanctuary of law, and strikes the balance from the hand of 
justice ; it tramples upon the Constitution ; it repudiates the 
Bible ; it has rended asunder the church of the living God ; 
it sports with everything holy and sacred ; it commits mur- 
der ; it has progressed far in destroying the comity between 
the States ; it now menaces the integrity of the Union 
itself ! This, however, we trust, is as far as it will be 
allowed, by the. patriotism of the people, to progress. A 
spirit so emphatically " devilish," demands that every patriot 
in the land should make haste to put it down. 



18 PREFACE. 

We address one word to abolitionists not so far gone in 
their madness as to be incapable of appreciating what we 
say and mean : " And now I say unto yon, Eefrain from 
these men (slave-holders), and let them alone, for if this 
counsel, or this work (slavery), be of men (simply human), 
it will come to nought ; but if it be of God (as we shall 
show it is), ye cannot overthrow it ; lest, haply, ye (abo- 
litionists) be found even to fight against God." We know 
that the foregoing quotation is from a source not much, if at 
all, respected by abolitionists ; yet we think the advice it 
contains good, and that it ought to be observed. Whether 
it be followed or not, however, is matter of perfect indiffer- 
ence to us. 

What an amusing spectacle abolitionism personified would 
be ! AVere some skilful play-writer to employ his talents in 
this way, and produce a play, called The Abolitionist; consist- 
ing of as many parts as there are phases amongst abolition- 
ists ; in which brother Gardner, brother Seward (with a roll 
in his hand, marked " higher law"), brother Trumbull, brother 
Parker, brother Greeley (with a slouched hat on his head), 
brother Wilson, brother Smith, brother Beecher (with a 
Sharp's rifle on his shoulder), brother Garrison, and their 
brother Fred, miserahile vulgus ; and those strong-minded 
women, aunt Harriet, sister Rev. Antoinette, sister Lucy 
(displaying a marriage protest), sister Abbe, and ^^m- sister 
the Black Swan {et id genus o?)me), should have conspicuous 
places ; to conclude with the farce of A Cured Abolitionist 
returning from the South ; over all which his Satanic Majesty, 
who has the perfect right, should be seen, with grinning 
approbation, to preside ; it is probable he would produce as 
ludicrous an exhibition as was ever presented to the gaze of 
an admiring audience. 



PREFACE. 19 

Emanci'pating Slaves. 

There is no poiver, divine or huynan, that requires an owner 
to emancipate his slave. If that be done, it must be a volun- 
tary act, by all the parties concerned — voluntary on the part 
of the owner, in offering emancipation, and voluntary on the 
part of the slave, in accepting it. Supposing an owner to 
be inclined to emancipate his slave, no one has any right to 
object, no one does object ; for the owner has as perfect a 
right to dispose of his slave property, as he has to dispose 
of any other species of property he may possess. 

The troubles and responsibilities of an owner are not 
few or small, as every one well knows. In view of these 
considerations, owners are sometimes induced to emancipate 
their slaves, by sending them all, old, middle-aged, and 
young, to Africa ; nothing, we conceive, is of greater im- 
propriety. In such case the owner gets rid of the incon- 
veniences alluded to, but the slave's condition is much worse 
than it could have been if he had remained with his owner. 
The fever peculiar to Africa, called the acclimating fever, 
which every emigrant must pass through, destroys, as the 
bills of mortality show, a great many of the very young and 
the very old ; indeed, so many of these die, that it may be 
truly said they go there but to be buried. Besides, emi- 
grants of this description embarrass those upon whom they 
are dependent, and are useless, if not expensive, to the 
government. These things should be well considered by 
every owner disposed to emancipate his slaves. 

The propriety of emancipating a slave, in view of his 
transportation to Africa, requires : 1, That the slave be par- 
ticularly instructed with regard to all the difficulties and 
dangers he will have to meet in his new situation. 2. That 
he be in good health, and of a sound constitution, 3. That 
he be of good moral character. 4. That he be industrious 
and provident, 5. That he be willing to go. These particu- 
lars being ascertained, and the slave being furnished by his 



20 PREFACE. 

owner with such things as will be necessary for his con- 
venience for the first year of his residence in Africa, and the 
i:>ayment of his passage thither, let him go. 

The conveying emancipated slaves to Africa by the 
Colonization Society, is an incidental undertaking. That 
society was organized, and still continues to exist, for the 
exclusive purpose of transporting the free persons of color 
in the United States to Africa. The society, therefore, 
should not be expected to divert its means from the direct 
to an incidental object ; indeed, in many instances, the 
intentions of owners have been defeated, from the fact that 
the society has been unable to sustain the expenses of the 
slaves they proposed to emancipate. 



Mahomeianism. 

This system of religion, if it be allowable to dignify it 
with such a title, may properly be divided into two parts, 
namely : creed and practice. The creed embraces some 
leading truths, improperly conceived, and, therefore, 'badly 
taught, and many absurdities — perhaps we would be more 
correct in calling them profanities. The creed is reduced to 
a very simple form, thus : " God is God, and Mahomet is His 
prophet." This must be believed. 

The practice consists of four general parts, thus : 1. 
Prayer. 2. Alms, of which there are two kinds, namel}^: 
legal and voluntary. 3. Fasting — this Mahometans call 
" the gate of religion." 4. The pilgrimage to Mecca ; they 
say a Moslem had as well die a Jew or a Christian, in either 
of which cases there is no chance for heaven, as to die with- 
out having performed this pilgrimage. 

This religion is now, as it has been from the first, propa- 
gated by force — compulsion is the instrument it employs to 
make converts. This is the religion of Northern, from 
whence it has been carried far into Central, but it has not 



PREFACE. 21 

yet reached Southern Africa. There, until Christian mis- 
sionaries made their appearance, there was no God tanght 
in any form ! 

The Christianizing- of Africa involves the fact, that on 
that^field Christianity and Mahometanism are to engage in 
their contests, to fight their battles. There the crescent and 
the cross are to meet face to face. Already the warrior 
hosts of Christianity are buckling on their armor. In the 
name of the living God they go forth, and in the name of 
the living God they shall triumph. The crescent shall bow 
to the cross. When we survey the whole ground, we see 
what a mighty work Christianity has to perform in Africa I 



Exodus of Slavery. 

Whether slavery is a temporary or permanent institution, 
has been deemed an important inquiry. The thorough 
investigation of this question does not properly fall within 
the range of our undertaking ; for we are not interested in 
hypothetical but historical facts. All that we shall do here, 
therefore, will be to exhibit the expressed opinions of some 
men of disting-uished abilities on the subject, and submit 
some general remarks for the consideration of the reader. 

M'r Clay, who thinks the institution temporary, says: '' I 
believe, and I have as much confidence in the belief as I 
have in my own existence, that the day will come, distant^ 
very far distant, perhaps, from the present time, but that 
the day will come, when^ hy voluntary emancipation^ and by 
acts of individuals, and of the States themselves^ without any 
usur'pation of poiver on the 'part of the general government^ there 
will he an end of slavery. Slavery may find its termination 
in different modes. It may by laAV ; it may by the sword ; 
it may by the operation of natural causes, to which I look 
for its ultimate extinction. As to the sword, nobody, I trust, 
would think of the em.ployment of that to put an end to 
slavery. 



22 PKEFACE. 

"But I may be asked, What is meant by the operation of 
natural causes? I mean this: upon one occasion, some 
twenty years ago, I went more at large than I feel now at 
liberty to do, into this subject. I went into the modus 
ojperaiidi of these natural causes, by which, in a long time, 
I am of opinion there will be an extinction of slavery. There 
will be an extinction of slavery whenever the density of the 
population in the United States shall be so great that free 
labor can be procured by those w^ho want the command of 
labor at a cheaper rate, and under less onerous conditions, 
than slave labor can be commanded. Although I cannot fix 
the time when this will occur, I can state the conditions and 
circumstances under which. When it does occur, there will 
be a voluntary manu7nission of slaves. It is not to be by any 
enforced usurpation or legal action of the general, or any 
other government at all, but by the voluntary consent of the 
States, and individuals of the States, which are alone inter- 
ested in the subject of slavery, and which have exclusively 
the right to determine when and how it shall coast to exist. 
Whenever, then, you can show to me, and that time will 
come, that our population shall be three or four times as 
great as it is, and that time will not be a very long time — 
when we measure time not by the duration of individuals or 
particular lives of persons, but by the period of national 
existence — whenever the time comes, as it will come, that 
our population shall be three or four times as great as at 
present ; that the prices of labor, the wages of manual 
labor, shall be so reduced that it will be too burdensome on 
the part of the owners of slaves to raise them for the sake of 
the labor they perform ; whenever it becomes the interest of 
the slave States and the slave-holders to resort to another 
kind of labor than that which is furnished by slaves ; when- 
ever that epoch comes, there will be a termination of slavery. 
Now, gentlemen, I am not about, as I said before, to specify 
the time when this is going to happen — I cannot do it — but 
I would repress, if I could, the impatience of those who are 



PREFACE. 23 

imwilling to wait the slow operation of the means and 
instrumentalities which God and nature furnish in order to 
accomplish the great purposes of His wisdom. I ivould ask 
tJizm to repress their impatience; to liaxe more dependence ufon 
the icisdom and providence of God than upon their own limited 
passions and circmnscrihed reason. AVhat, in a national point 
of view, is a century to a nation ? Nothing. It took two 
centuries and more to bring from the shores of Africa her 
sons, now existing in a state of slavery in the United States. 
It may take two centuries, more or less, to transport their 
descendants, to such an extent as no longer to create any 
solicitude or anxiety about the few that may linger and re- 
main behind. It may take some two centuries to carry them 
back ; and what, I repeat again, is this in the great work- 
ings of national existence, and the administration of the 
affairs of this world, by the Providence that controls, directs, 
and governs them ? " 

M'r Toombs says: ''His condition [the African slave] is 
not permanent among us, and we may find his exodus in the 
unvar^dng laws of population. Under the conditions of 
labor in England, and the continent of Europe, slavery could 
not exist here, or anywhere else. The moment wages 
descend to a point barely sufficient to support the laborer 
and his famil}^, capital cannot afford to own labor, and 
slavery instantly ceases. Slavery ceased in England in 
obedience to this law, and not from any regard to liberty or 
humanity. The increase of population will produce the same 
result in this country ; and American slavery, like that of 
England, will find its euthanasy in the general prostration 
of all labor." 

The opinions we have presented above are decidedly in 
favor of the institution being a temporary one. They are 
based upon an assumed state of facts, which lie far in the 
future — a state of facts warranted by no present indications. 
We do not intend to question the soundness of these 
opinions ; we do not intend to say that they never will be 



24: PREFACE. 

realized ; but we do inteud to say, that nothing connect- 
ed with the practical operations of the institution points 
that way. We do not see "the beginning of the end." 
These opinions may, they may not, be correct. However 
that may be, they have no immediate bearing upon the 
institution. Being, therefore, of no present interest, these 
opinions (as their authors intended they should not) do not 
interfere in the slightest degree with the institution. IVe 
who are connected with the institution at this day, are to regard it 
as ftrmanent — jpcr'petual. 

But, assuming that the institution is a temporary and not 
a permanent one, it is easy to see that society, in all its 
ramifications, will have to undergo a complete revolution, 
before it is abolished. This state of things, in which abo- 
litionists will have no agency whatever, will be brought 
about by Providence in gradual movements, which, causing 
no detriment to any, will receive the hearty approval and co- 
operation of all. 

Perry, Houston County^ Ga., 
August, 1856, 



SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES 



CHAPTER I. 

INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 
Section 1. 

NoaKs Posterity. — "And the sons of Noah, that went 
forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth : and 
Ham is the father of Canaan : these are the three sons of 
Noah ; and of them was the whole earth overspread." 

Noah attained the age of nine hundred and fifty years; 
this period is divided thus : six hundred years before the 
deluge and three hundred and fifty years after that event. 
This makes the age of Noah the second highest on record, 
that of Methuselah being the first, he having lived nine 
hundred and sixty -nine years. 

''^And of them was the ivhole earth overspread^ — Noah 
died Anno Mundi 2006, as is generally agreed. Pre- 
viously to his death, he divided the earth among his 
three sons. Asia was assigned to Shem, Europe to 
Japheth,- and Africa to Ham. 

Prophecy concerning Slavery. — 'And Noah began to be 
an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard : and he drank 
of the wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered 
within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the 
nakedness of his father, and told his brethren without. 
2 



26 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

"And Shem and Japbetli took a garment, and laid it 
upon their shoulders, and went backward, and covered 
the nakedness of their father ; and their faces were back- 
ward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 

"And Noah aw^oke from his wine, and knew what his 
younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed 
he Canaan; a servant of servants shall he he unto his hreth- 
ren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, 
and Canaan shall he his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, 
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall 
he his servant.^'' 

How peculiarly emphatic is this language, "a servant of 
servants;" that is, the most degraded kind of servant — a 
slave. Here we have the establishment of the relation of 
master and servant ; that is to say, slavery. This proph- 
ecy was delivered A. M. 1657, which must be regarded as 
the period of the establishment of slavery: its practical 
developments will appear as we progress. 

But why was slavery established ? AYe answer, as a 
punishment for sin. Upon whom was this particular pun- 
ishment to be inflicted ? We answer, upon Ham's pos- 
terity; for, however reprehensible we may regard the 
conduct of Ham towards his father to have been, we are 
not to suppose that that conduct was the cause of the curse 
pronounced upon his son Canaan ; for had Ham's conduct 
been the cause of the curse, the curse would have been 
pronounced upon him and not upon his son. Ham's con- 
duct was but the occasion that brought forth the announce- 
ment of events then far in the future, and which have 
been, and still are being, developed. 

The text does not warrant the conclusion that Canaan 
participated in the mirth or contempt which the discovery 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 27 

of Noah's condition occasioned ; the assertion that 
such was the fact is altogether gratuitous; it is unsup- 
ported by authority ; it cannot be proved ; it is not infer- 
able. Canaan'' 8 name is mentioned to denote llamas 'posterity ; 
it is for that purpose alone that it is used in the prophecy. 
The whole prophecy must be taken together — Sheni and 
Japheth had shown a virtuous regard for their father ; that 
virtue manifested itself in their posterity — it was that vir- 
tue that was blessed. On the contrary, Ham's conduct was 
vicious; (vice in his posterity has ever been their most 
marked characteristic) — it ivas that viciousness that ivas 
cursed^ and which has been punished in so peculiar a man- 
ner. 

"We are aware that we have assumed advanced ground 
in the above statement. The extent to which opinion has 
gone, on the subject of slavery, is at most, that it was but 
permitted, not ordained. That it was ordained by divine 
authority, and announced in the prophecy of Noah, is 
what we assert. This assertion we prove by two consid- 
erations : 1. The language of the prophecy is the language 
of command^ not of permission. 2. By the fulfilment of 
the prophecy, which will be seen in the facts which com- 
pose the subsequent portions of this volume. 

The view that we here submit may not be acceptable to 
all ; it would be strange if it were so ; but let no one re- 
ject it by saying, "I don't believe it." " I don't believe it," 
is the language of either ignorance or prejudice; some- 
times of both. Let those who deny the correctness of our 
interpretation of the prophecy, produce the proof and the 
argument which will show its incorrectness. Truth being 
our object, to proof and argument we will most cheerfully 
submit. 



28 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Section 2. 

Shem's Posterity.— Shem had five sons, namely, Elam, 
Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. "Elam settled in 
Persia, where he became the father of that mighty nation. 
The descendants of Asshur, peopled Assyria. Arphaxad 
settled in Chaldea. To the family of Lud is generally 
assigned Lydia. Aram is believed to have settled in Me- 
sopotamia and Syria." 

Ja2)hetlts Posterity. — The Bible does not furnish any ac- 
count of the life and death of Japheth ; but that his sons, 
namely, Gomer, Magog, Madia, Javan, Jubal, Meshech, 
and Tiras, became the heads of nations, is generally be- 
lieved. " Gomer," says Josephus, " was the father of the 
Gomerites, or Celts ; that is, of all the nations that inhab- 
ited the northern parts of Europe, under the names of 
Gauls, Cimbrians, Goths, &c., and who also migrated into 
Spain, where they were called Celtiberians. From Ma- 
gog, Meshech, and Jubal, proceeded the Scythians, Sar- 
matians, and Tartars. From Madia, Javan, and Tiras, 
the Medes, lonians, Greeks and Thracians." 

Hcmi^s Posterity. — Ham had four sons, namely, Cush, 
Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. " The sons of Cush, Seba, 
and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah : 
and the sons of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan. And -Cush 
begat Nimrod : he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord : wherefore, it is 
said. Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. 
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, 
and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of 
that land went forth Asshur, and budded Nineveh, and 
the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nine- 
veh and Calah ; the same is a great city." 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 29 

As we are more interested in the posterity of Cush, 
than in that of the other sons of Ilam, to wit, Mizraira, 
Phut, and Canaan, we shall first notice the latter. This 
course will enable us to i^eep our attention fixed uninter- 
ruptedly upon that people from whom came the slaves 
of the United States ; in whose history, as well as it can 
be traced, we cannot but feel the liveliest interest. 

Mizraim. — This son of Ham was the progenitor of the 
Egyptians, who are frequently called by his name : the 
word is also used as the name of the country. Mizraim 
has three different significations: 1. The land of Egypt. 
'2. Him who first peopled Egypt. 3. The inhabitants 
of Egypt. 

Egypt is divided into two parts by the river Kile, 
which runs ft'om north to south ; hence, Lower and Upper 
Egypt. The capital of this country, Cairo, and even the 
country itself, is by the Arabians called Mezer : the na- 
tives call it Chemi, that is to say, the land of Ham : so 
it is sometimes called by the Hebrews. The Mizraimites 
settled that part of the land of Canaan known as Philistia, 
or Palestine : they have, long ago, been lost, as a distinct 
people. 

Pliut. — It is agreed that this son of Ham peopled a col- 
ony in Lower Egypt, inclining towards Lybia. His de- 
scendants, therefore, are generally reckoned among the 
Egyptians, and not as a distinct people. This branch of 
the Ham family, like that of Mizraim, has long ago dis- 
appeared. 

Canaan. — " And Canaan begat Sidon, his first-born, and 
Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Emorite, and the Girga- 
site, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and 
the Arvadite, and the Zemarite and the Hamathite : and 



80 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread 
abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from 
Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza : as thou goest 
unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, 
even unto Lasha." 

Canaan had, besides Sidon his first-born, ten other sons, 
who were the heads of as many tribes, all dwelling in 
Palestine and Syria. All these being Canaanites, the 
country took the name of "Canaan." The country thus 
named is "a narrow slip, extending along the eastern 
coast of the Mediterranean, from which to the river Jor- 
dan, the utmost width does not exceed fifty miles. The 
Jordan was the eastern boundary of the land of Canaan, 
or Palestine, properly so called: which derived its name 
from the Philistines, or Palestines, originally inhabiting 
the coast." After the Israelites possessed the country, it 
was considerably enlarged by the subjugation of neigh- 
boring nations. " The territory of Tyre and Sidon was 
its ancient border, on the northwest ; the range of the 
Libanus and Anti-Libanus, forms a natural boundary on 
the north and northeast ; while in the south it is pressed 
upon by the Syrian and Arabian deserts. The kingdom 
of David and Solomon extended far beyond these narrow 
limits: in a northeasterly direction, it was bounded only 
by the river Euphrates, and included a considerable part 
of Syria." 



Section 



o. 



The Canaanites to he exterminated, not enslaved. — Moses 
was the conductor of the Israelites, during their wander- 
ings in the wilderness, but he was not permitted to ac- 
company them into the promised land; when, therefore, 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 31 

they were prepared to pass the Jordan, their faithful legis- 
lator assembled them for his last instructions, and said : 
'' When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land 
whither thou goest to possess it, and hast cast out many 
nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and 
the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and 
the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and 
mightier than thou ; and when the Lord thj^ God shall de- 
liver them before thee ; thou shalt smite them, and utter- 
1}^ destroy them : thou shalt make no covenant with 
them, nor show mercy unto them : neither shalt thou 
make marriaofes with them ; thv dau^jhter thou shalt not 
give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto 
thy son : for they will turn away thy son from following 
me, that they may serve other gods ; so will the anger of 
the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee sud- 
denly. 

"And thou shalt consume all the people which the 
Lord thy God shall deliver thee ; thine eye shall have no 
pity upon them : neither shalt thou serve their gods ; for 
that will be a snare unto thee. 

" But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the 
land from before you, then it shall come to pass that 
those which ye let remain of them, shall be pricks in your 
eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the 
land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass, 
that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them." 

That nothing connected with the purgation of the prom- 
ised land, might be lefc uncertain, Moses gave instruc- 
tions with regard to the places of worship of the Canaan- 
ites : " Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein 
the nations which ye shall possess, served their gods ; 



82 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED vSTATES. 

•upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under 
every green tree, and ye shall overthrow their altars, and 
break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire ; and 
ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and 
destroy the names of them, out of that place. 

Josephus, speaking of Moses' instructions, says : " AVhen 
you have beaten your enemies in battle, slay those that 
have fought against you, but preserve the others alive, 
that they may pay you tribute, excepting the nation of the 
Canaanites, for, as to that people, you must entirely de- 
stroy them." Again: "Moses directed, that when they 
had got possession of the land of the Canaanites, and 
when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its in- 
habitants, as they ought to do, they should erect an altar," 
&c. From the directness of the instructions given, both 
as related to the peoples of Canaan and their places of 
worship, it is impossible to understand anything less than 
2i. total extermination of hoth ; that nothing should be left, 
either of the one or the other, whereby the Israelites 
should be corrupted. 

So particular was Moses on this occasion, that he 
guarded the Israelites from improper conclusions : he 
knew they might attribute the wonderful displays of 
God's power through them to their own righteousness. 
That they might not fall into this error, he said: "Speak 
not in thine heart:, after that the Lord thy God hath cast 
them out from before thee, saying. For my righteousness 
the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land ; but for 
the wickedness of these nations, the Lord doth drive them 
out from before thee. Kor for thy righteousness, or for 
the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess 
their land, but for the wickedness of these nations, the 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 33 

Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee ; and 
that He may perform the word which the Lord sware 
unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, understand, 
therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this 
good hand to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art 
a stiff-necked people." 

Sectio7i 4. 

Manner of executing the coimnand. — "And the Lord thy 
God will put out those nations before thee by little and 
little : thou may est not consume them at once, lest the 
beast of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy 
God shall deliver them unto thee, and thou shalt destroy 
them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed." 

Eespecting the situation of the seven nations, against 
whom the Israelites were first to proceed, Calmet remarks: 
" Those called Canaanites chiefly inhabited what is called 
Phoenicia, the environs of Tyre and Sidon ; the Ilittites 
occupied the mountains southward of the promised land ; 
the Ilivites dwelt by Ebal and Gerezim, Sichem and 
Gibeon, towards the mountains of Hermon; the Perizzites 
were, probably, not a distinct nation or tribe, but rather 
villagers, scattered through the country in general ; the 
Girgashites possesseth the country beyond the Jordan, to- 
wards the lake of Gennesareth ; the Jebusites possessed 
Jerusalem, and the Amorites occupied the mountainous 
country in the vicinity of the western part of the Dead 
Sea, and also that part of the land of Moab which the 
Israelites conquered from Sihon and Og." 

Joshua, upon whom was devolved the duty of conduct- 
ing the Israelites into the promised land, commenced the 
subjugation of the country and the extermination of its 
2^- 



84 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

peoples, by first besieging the city of Jericho. Just as 
the city was about to fall, Joshua said to the Israelites : 
" The city shall be accursed, even it and all that are there- 
in, to the Lord : only Kahab, the harlot, shall live, she 
and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the 
messengers that we sent." When the city fell, they 
utterly destroyed all that were in it, "both man and 
woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass, with 
the ed2;e of the sword." 

From the ruin of Jericho the Israelites proceeded to Ai. 
God said to Joshua: " Thou shalt do to Ai and her king 
as thou didst unto Jericho and her king." Upon the 
taking of Ai, the Israelites "smote it with the edge of the 
sword. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of 
men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men 
of Ai." 

The narrative of Joshua's progress is here interrupted 
by an interesting circumstance. The Gibeonites (alias 
Hivites) having learned the fate of Jericho and Ai, "Did 
work wilily, and went and made as if they had been am- 
bassadors ; and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine 
bottles, old and rent, and bound up ; and old shoes and 
clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them ; and 
all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy." 
Thus prepared, they appeared in the camp of the Israel- 
ites and said: "We be come from a far country; now, 
therefore, make a league with us." The usual course of 
proceeding, by " asking counsel of the mouth of the Lord," 
was not observed by the Israelites. This fact is the more 
astonishing, because the Israelites suspected imposition on 
the part of the Gibeonites. The Israelites not only " took 
of their victuals," but " the princes of the congregation 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 35 

sware unto them." Joshua asked them: "Who are ye 
and from whence come ye?" They replied, that their 
country was very distant; that they had heard of the 
delivery, by the Lord, of the Israelites from Egypt, and 
of what the Lord had done to the Amorites on the other 
side of Jordan ; therefore, their elders and people had sent 
them to meet the Israelites and ask terms of peace. In 
confirmation of the truth of their being a distant people, 
they referred to their mouldy bread ; to their rent and 
torn wine bottles, and to their tattered garments. Joshua 
made a league with them. It is proper here to remark, 
that the extent of the league was " to let them live" — that 
is, not to exterminate them. 

At the end of three days, the Israelites discovered the 
imposition of the Gibeonites, who, instead of living in a 
distant country, were the " neighbors" of the Israelites. 
Joshua proceeded to their country. " Kow their cities 
were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath- 
jearim. And the Israelites smote them not, because the 
princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the 
Lord God of Israel." Joshua summoned them before 
him, and said unto them: "Wherefore have ye beguiled 
us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell 
among us? Now, therefore, ye are cursed, and there shall 
none of you be free from being bondmen, and hewers of 
wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God. And 
they answered Joshua and said, Because it was certainly 
told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God commanded 
his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all 
the inhahitants of the land from hefore you ; therefore, we were 
sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this 
thing. And now, behold, we are in thine hand ; as it 



S6 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

seemetli good and right unto thee to do unto us, do." 
Joshua, on this, confirmed what had previously been deter- 
mined upon ; that is, he spared their lives, "because of the 
oath," and settled their condition of " hewers of wood and 
drawers of water;" that is, he reduced them to slavery. 

Here v/e see that the Gibeonites were reduced to slavery 
by Joshua, but we do not find anywhere his authority for 
that act; indeed, he was "beguiled" into it by the Gib- 
eonites, " not having songht counsel at the mouth of the 
Lord." Joshua cannot be justified on the ground of 
Noah's prophecy, for the command of Moses, which was 
subsequent to the prophecy, required that the Canaanites 
should be exterminated, not enslaved. Was the command 
of Moses defeated by this act of Joshua? Certainly not ; 
for had Joshua's act violated the command given him, it 
would certainly have received the divine disapprobation, 
which it did not receive. Joshua's act is justified by 
that part of the command which directed the manner 
in which the command was to be fulfilled ; that is, the 
Canaanites were to be exterminated "by little and little: 
thou mayest not consume them at once :" therefore, 
the "sparing the lives" of the Gibeonites was not a vio- 
lation of the command. Was the command fulfilled ? It 
certainly was. The Gibeonites in their enslaved condi- 
tion, continued subject to the burdens imposed upon them, 
and were "very fixithftd" to the Israelites until the reign 
of David, when they entirely ceased to exist as a distinct 
people; thus was the command literally fulfilled. With 
regard to the deferred execution of the command, we re- 
mark, that it was in perfect conformity with the divine 
procedure. David repented and had his punishment de- 
ferred. Hezekiah was told that he must "die and not 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 87 

live," but upon his " praying to the Lord," fifteen years 
were added to his life. So with the Gibeonitcs, their 
fidelity to the Israelites deferred their extermination, and 
brought it about it in a milder and more gradual form 
than its immediate accomplishment would have been. 

Having disposed of the Gibeonites, we resume the nar- 
rative of Joshua's progress in conquering the land. After 
Joshua had settled the condition of the Gibeonites, Adoni- 
zedek, king of Jerusalem ; Iloham, king of Hebron ; Pi- 
ram, king of Jarmuth ; Japliia, king of Lachish, and Debir, 
king of Eglon, combined their forces for the purpose of 
fighting against the Gibeonites. Joshua marched to their 
assistance : "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them 
not ; for I have delivered them into thine hand : there 
shall not a man of them stand before thee." The battle 
came on, "And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, 
and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and 
chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, 
and smote them to Azkah, and unto Makkedah. And it 
came to pass as they fled from before Israel, and were in the 
going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great 
stones from heaven upon them, unto Azekah, and they 
died ; they were more which died with hailstones 
than they whom the children of Israel slew with the 
sword." 

After this Joshua took Makkedah : he destroyed the 
city "and all the souls that were therein ; he let none re- 
main." The same fate was realized by Libnah, and 
Lachish, and Eglon, and Hebron, and Debir. Joshua " de- 
stroyed all the souls that were therein : he left none re- 
maining." 

" So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of 



88 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the south, and of the vale, and of the spruigs, and all 
their kings : he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed 
all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded. 
And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto 
Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon." 

Jabiu, king of Hazor, having "heard these things," 
sent "to Jabab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shim- 
ron, and to the king of Achshapp, and to the kings that 
were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains 
south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders 
of Dor, on the west ; and to the Canaanite, on the east 
and on the west ; and to the Amorite, and to the Hittite, 
and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, in the mountains; 
and to the Hivite, under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh. 
And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, 
much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore, 
in multitude." With these hosts the Israelites fought and 
overcame them, and " smote them until they left them 
none remaining." On his return from, this great battle, 
Joshua took Hazor, and " smote all the souls that were 
therein, with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying 
them : there was not any left to breathe." All the cities 
of the confederated kings were taken ; the Israelites 
"smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly de- 
stroyed them." The spoils of these cities were preserved 
to the Israelites; "but every man they smote with the 
the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them ; 
neither left they any to breathe." 

It is a fact, that not a city, or people, except the Gib- 
eonites, sought to make terms of peace with the Israelites, 
all were exterminated : " For it was of the Lord to harden 
their hearts, that they should come against Israel in bat- 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVEEY. 39 

tie, tluit thej might destroy them utterly, and that they 
might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as 
the Lord commanded Moses." 

After this Joshua proceeded against the Anakims and 
overthrew them: some of them escaped "in Gaza, in 
Gath, and in Ashdod, where they remained." These 
cities belonged to the Philistines (and did not fall within 
the limits of Joshua's conquests); this accounts for the ap- 
pearance of the Anakims afterwards among the Israelites. 

It is reasonable to suppose that many of the Canaanites 
escaped being destro3^ed, by taking refuge in neighboring 
nations — in Africa, in Asia Minor, in Greece, and in dif- 
ferent islands of the ^gean and Mediterranean sea ; and 
became amalgamated with their peoples. 

Section 5. 

Joshua commenced the conquest of the promised land 
A. M. 2553, and was six years engaged in its accomplish- 
ment ; after which "the whole land rested from war;" 
that is, that portion of the land of Canaan which it was 
designed should be conquered by Joshua, was now in the 
possession of the Israelites. 

Joshua having completed his conquests, was for some 
time engaged in dividing the conquered land among the 
Israelites. When that duty was performed, he said to the 
people, " How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, 
which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you ?" 
The Israelites immediately set about the conquest of the 
remainder of the land ; they sent out from the tribes 
which were to inherit it, three men each ; these men 
were to pass through the land ; " to describe it," and to 
report to Joshua, who was to divide it. The men sent 



40 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

out " described it by cities, into seven parts, in a book," 
and brought the book to Joshua, who divided the 
]and. The conquest of the land being completed, after 
this arrangement, " The Lord gave them rest round 
about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers : 
and there stood not a man of all their enemies before 
them : the Lord delivered all their enemies into their 
hand." 

There remained many of the original Canaanites scat- 
tered through the land ; these were compelled to " serve 
under trihute^^ and were not, like the Gibeonites, reduced 
to slavery. With respect to these scattered Canaanites, 
Joshua said to the Israelites: "Take good heed there- 
fore, unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your 
God. Else, if ye do in any wise go back, and 
cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that 
remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, 
and go in unto them, and they to you ; know for a cer- 
tainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out 
any of these nations from before you ; but they shall be 
snares and traps unto you, and scourges in j^our sides, 
and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from oif this good 
land which the Lord your God hath given you." On clos- 
ing this branch of the subject, it may be interesting to 
inquire, 'Why ivere the Canaanites to he exterminated ? 
The answer to this inquiry may be read in the eighteenth 
and twentieth chapters of the book of Leviticus, to 
which w^e refer the reader. All the abominations con- 
tained in those chapters, and which were forbidden the 
Israelites, were practiced by the Canaanites. These 
abominations removed them beyond the range of the divine 
mercy ! " The land itself," as if incapable of containing 



INSTITUTION" OF SLAVERY. 41 

sucli sinners, " vomitetli out her inhabitants." Besides, it 
must be remembered that the Canaanites were to be 
succeeded in the promised land by a people to whom 
the Oracles of Salvation were being delivered, and from 
whom should spring the Eedeemicr of the world. A 
people thus favored should be pure and uncorrupt. 

Section 6. 

When the Israelitish host, A. M. 2514, stood before the 
hol}^ mount for the purpose of receiving the laws which 
were to be the rule of their conduct, as related to their 
worship, their civil polity, and their domestic organization, 
God said : " I am the Lord your God, which brought you 
forth out of the land of Egypt, to give 3^ou the land of 
Canaan, and to be your God. And if thy brother that 
dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee ; 
thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant, but 
as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with 
thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee ; and 
then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children 
wqth him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto 
the possession of his fathers shall he return : for they are 
my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of 
Egypt : they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou 
shalt not rule over him wdth rigor ; but shalt fear thy 
God. 

^^Botli tliy hondmen and thy hondmaids, ivhicli thou shalt 
have, shall he of the heathen that are round about you ; of 
them shall ye huy hondmen and hoyidmaids. Moreover, of the 
children of the strangers that do sojourn among yoic, of them 
shall ye huy, and of their families that are ivith you, ivhich 
they hegat in your land; ayul they shall he your possession. 



42 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

And ye shall take tliem for an inheritance for your children 
after you^ to inherit them for a possession ; they shall he your 
hondmen for ever ^ 

There is no possible misunderstanding the text ; it 
contains the clearest and most explicit authority for 
slavery in the church ; (on which subject we shall say 
more in a subsequent part of this work.) But slavery 
existed among the Israelites before this time ; Joseph us, 
in speaking of the great interest excited in the Hebrew 
community on the occasion of Moses giving instructions 
to Joshua, relative to the conquest of the promised land, 
says, '' the very slaves were present also." These slaves 
the Israelites brought with them from the land of 
Egypt. 

Had it been designed that the promised land, to which, 
the Israelites were journeying, should, in modern lan- 
guage, be free soil, here is the place that we should find 
the command ; instead of that, however, we find a 
command directly the reverse. 

Abraham, when he was separated from his father's house, 
in order that he might become " the father of the faithful," 
that is, the father of all true believers ; was authorized to 
purchase and possess slaves, as we shall see. And here, 
when his posterity had become numerous and were 
journeying to the promised land for the purpose of pos- 
sessing it, they are informed, not only that they may 
possess slaves, but of whom they were to procure them, 
and how the slaves themselves were to be regarded ; that 
is, as property ; ^for he {the slave) is his {the master^) 
money P 

It will not escape the attention of the reader, that 
slaves were to be procured by the Israelites of the hea- 
then. Israelitish slaves, persons reduced to poverty 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 43 

among them, might be purchased and possessed, but 
theirs was a limited servitude, which did not extend be- 
yond the next occurring year of jubilee; and their treat- 
ment was to be that of hired-servants and not that of 
bond-servants : but heathen-slaves were to be a possession 
and an inheritance to the purchaser and his children forever. 

At the first view this would appear to be an arrange- 
ment against heathen-slaves, but a little consideration 
will show that it was an arrangement in favor of such 
slaves ; for these were the means by which they were to 
be brought to the knowledge of the true God ; into his 
Church, and finally to salvation. 

Slaves were to be procured by the Israelites, from the 
heathen round about them ; so they have been procured 
by the people of the South. The slaves they possess, al- 
though natives of a distant country, were brought to their 
doors and sold to them by foreigners : for the people of 
the South have ever had, comparatively, but a small share 
in their importation, as we shall see. 

Let the reader turn his attention to the facts stated in 
the fourth and fifth chapters of this work, and he will at 
once see the beneficial results of slavery to the enslaved ; 
results which shall continue to enlarge until Christianity, 
with all its attendant blessings, shall reach every child of 
Africa, whether he be found in the United States or in 
his native country. 

We submit one other remark here — it is the design of 
providence to secure the redemption of Africans by per- 
mitting them to be brought into Christian countries and 
Christian families. Their reclamation from heathenism 
has been attempted by sending white missionaries among 
them in their native country ; but while the Church has 



44 SLAVEKY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

had to deplore the loss of many valuable lives from this 
course, the very small amount of good accomplished 
shows that that arrangement was a failure. It would be 
gratifying to know how many missionaries have been lost 
by the Churches having operations in Africa. It seems to 
us to be but justice to the memories of these devoted men 
and women, that their names should be mentioned in this 
connection. Are there not persons sufficiently interested 
in this subject, who will furnish us with the facts? 

Section 7. 

Slaver?/ existed in Africa long before the time of Joshua, 
at least as early as A. M. 2083. — Terah, the father of Abra- 
ham, left Ur of the Chaldees, for the purpose of going 
into the land of Canaan, A. M. 2078, having Abraham in 
his company : he proceeded as far as Ilaran, where 
he died. A. M. 2083, the Lord said unto Abraham, 
who was then called Abram, " Get thee out of thy coun- 
try, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, 
unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of 
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy 
name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing : and I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth 
thee : and in thee shall all families of the earth be 
blessed." 

This clear, beautiful and expressive language, arouses 
the attention to the fact, that some great change of affairs 
is now about to occur; and it keeps the attention on the 
alert to discover the beginnings of the anticipated event. 
That event was the organization of the Church. Abra- 
ham was a slave-holder at this time. 

In compliance with the directions which he had receiv- 
ed, Abraham journeyed into the land of Canaan : here 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 45 

the Lord appeared to liiin and said, " Unto tby seed will 
I give this land ;" this promise, as we have seen, was ful- 
filled to the Israelites. Abraham made no permanent set- 
tlement in the land of Canaan, but continued to journey, 
" G:oin2: on still toward the south." A famine occurrino; 

DO O 

in the land of Canaan, Abraham " went down into Egypt, 
to sojourn there." When he arrived near the border of 
Egypt, fearing the great beauty of Sarah would occasion 
him trouble, he directed her to pas3 as his sister. The 
matter turned out as he supposed it would, for " when 
Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the 
woman, that she was very fair. The princes also of Pha- 
raoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh ; and 
the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he en- 
treated Abram well for her sake : and he had sheep, and 
oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants_. 
and she-asses and camels." The property mentioned here, 
all agree, was the property of Abraham ; some suppose 
that Abraham possessed this property previously, and car- 
ried it with him into Egypt ; others think that it was giv- 
en to him by Pharaoh ; the latter opinion appears to us 
the most probable : however this maj^ be, we learn from 
the statement one of two facts ; namely, if Abraham 
carried the property with him, then he possessed slaves 
before he went into Egypt : if Pharaoh gave him the 
property, then slavery existed in Egypt before Abraham 
went there — let the case be the one way or the other, 
Abraham at this time possessed slaves. Pharaoh having 
returned Sarah to Abraham, he " went up out of Egypt; 
he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, 
into the south ;" that is into the southern parts of the 
land of Canaan. Here, we see, was slaverj^, long before 



46 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the Gibeonites were reduced to that condition bj Joshua. 
There is another very important flict, too, that will be no- 
ticed ; namely, that slavery was introduced into the 
Church of God from the very beginning of its organiza- 
tion ; for Abraham is as much to-day the " father of the 
faithful ; the father of us all ;" that is, of all faithful be- 
lievers, as he was on the day when the blessings were prom- 
ised to him ; blessings which form the believers' inherit- 
ance to the end of the world. 

Number of slaves possessed hy Abraham. — A. M. 2091, 
certain kings confederated and made war upon the cities of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, " Abram's brother's son," 
lived in Sodom, and when the city fell into the hands of 
the kings, he was taken prisoner and carried away. One 
who had escaped from Sodom, went to Abraham and told 
him of the overthrow of the city and of the captivity of 
Lot. " And when Abraham heard that his brother was 
taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his 
house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them 
unto Dan;" here he joined battle with them, overcome 
them, and recovered all that had been lost. 

A. M. 2107, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah, by the angel of the Lord, Abraham, who was then 
in that part of the country, "journeyed from thence to- 
wards the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh 
and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar." Abraham being in 
a strange country, and fearing that he should be involved 
in trouble on account of Sarah, resorted to the old expe- 
dient of having her pass as his sister. " Abimelech, 
king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to 
Abimelech, in a dream by night, and said to him. Be- 
hold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 47 

thou liast taken ; for she is a man's wife." "And Abime- 
lech took sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and wo- 
men-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored 
him Sarah his wife." Here we see, that Abraham had 
not only the number of his slaves increased, but that 
slavery existed in Palestine at this time. 

Isaac ivas a slave-holder. — " For he had possession of 
flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of serv- 
ants. And the Philistines envied him." 

Jacob was a slave-holder. — When Jacob left Mesopotamia 
and was returning to the promised land, expecting to 
meet Esau, whom he greatly feared, he sent messengers 
to him, "And commanded them saying. Thus shall ye 
speak unto my lord Esau ; Thy servant Jacob saith thus : 
I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now : 
and I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and men-servants, and 
women-servants : and I have sent to tell my lord, that I 
may find grace in thy sight." 

Section 8. 

Having showm that slavery existed long before the 
Israelites entered the promised land, that Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob were slave-holders, and having disposed of the 
other sons of Ham, our attention will now be directed to 
Cush. 

CUSH; blacJmess, or heat. — Martindale. This defini- 
tion applies as well to the people as to the country of the 
Cushites. Josephus asserts, " that as for the four sons of 
Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus ; for the 
Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, 
both by themselves and all men in Asia, called Chusites." 

The term Cush, is by the Yulgate, Septuagint and 



48 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Other authorities, generally rendered Ethiopia ; that is, 
the land of Cash : yet it must be admitted, that there are 
many passages which will not allow of such a rendering : 
notwithstanding, Ethiopia in Hebrew is frequently called 
Cush. That Cush and Ethiopia were terms used indiffer- 
ently, to designate the same people and country, there 
can be no doubt. 

From the fact of the Ethiopians having made settle- 
ments and removals out of Africa, much confusion has 
occurred among early writers. They first settled on the 
Persian Gulf, in Chuzestan ; thence they spread over 
India and portions of Arabia, near the Eed sea ; thence 
the main body passed into Africa, to the south of Egypt; 
thence to the center of Africa ; thence from increasing 
numbers and other causes, as is supposed, for we have 
no history to guide us, they continued to stretch farther 
south and west, until they appeared upon the coasts ; 
where we find " wi the ivoolly -headed Negro the genuine 
CiishiteP Whenever the main body of the people emi- 
grated, numbers remained at the place of their last 
settlement ; it was from one of these remaining bands, 
doubtless, that Moses took a wife, " for he had married 
an Ethiopian woman." 

The earliest accounts extant of the Ethiopians, show 
that they were gross idolaters ; but it is impossible 
now to trace their system of idolatry, if they had a 
system, with any degree of certainty. From their long- 
continued intercourse with the Egyptians, their imme- 
diate neighborhood, and other causes, it is probable 
that their system received many of its features from 
the Egyptian, which everybody know^s was of the 
grossest kind : however that may be, they have con- 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 49 

tinued to become more and more debased, until tlie 
last trace of an idea of God has disappeared. 

They have no idolatry ; no legenJ.s ; no sacred streams or 
groves ; no sacrifices ; no temples ; no p>riests ; no incanta- 
tions ; no literature ; no history ; no traditions ; all, all, is 
one iinbroJcen night of palpable darkness : no other people 
ever departed so far from God, In this ive find the cause of 
the curse of Noah''s prop)]iecy. 

The early discoverers of new countries have found that 
the aborigines have generally some well-defined idea of a 
Supreme Being — some tolerably correct notion of the 
Deity ; but the Ethiopians present an exception to this 
rule ; with them, literally and truly, " There is no God." 
An author says, " While Satan is obviously the author of 
the polytheism of other nations, he has employed his 
sagacity with fatal success in erasing every vestige of 
religious impression from their minds." The rain-maker 
and the gree-gree doctor, the greatest impostors among 
them, are the only mysterious characters with which 
they are acquainted. 

From this point let the reader contemplate the con- 
dition of Africa, and then compare that condition with 
the condition of Africans in the United States, and 
with those sent from the United States to Liberia, and 
he will easily comprehend the benefits and purposes of 
slavery. 

Section 9. 
Our object at present is to show, to some extent at least^ 
the condition of the Negro in Africa, at this time. The 
authors we shall use for this purpose, are Denham, Clap- 
perton, and Oudney, (oflicers of the army sent out by the 
British government, for the purpose of " solving that 
8 



60 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

interesting problem, [the discovery of the mouth of the 
Niger ; afterwards accomplished by the Landers,] to 
which the discovery of the enterprising Mungo Park 
gave rise." These travellers passed through Northern, 
starting at Tripoli, into Central Africa, as far south as 
Musfeia, in lat. 9° 15' N.) and Kev. Kobert Moffat, who 
was twenty-three years an agent of the London Mission- 
ary Society, in Southern Africa. What we take from 
these authors we present in the form of extracts, or 
quotations. We adopt this course, first, because they are 
Englishmen, not only opposed to slavery, but regarding 
it with feelings little short of horror ; secondly, because 
their position, their writings, possess all the solemnity of 
official reports ; not being subject to the criticisms of 
independent travellers. There can be entertained no pos- 
sible suspicion of misstatement or exaggeration on their 
part ; thirdly, because the course pursued may excite the 
desire for the thorough investigation of a subject too 
much neglected, and therefore but imperfectly under- 
stood. It will be perceived at once that from the course 
pursued, nothing but an imperfect sketch can be present- 
ed here; but we trust that that sketch, if well considered, 
will be sufficient to exhibit to the reader, facts which go 
to make up one of the most revolting pictures of degra- 
dation and misery that was ever presented to the mind of 
man. 

The reader will not fail to observe that there exists a 
material difference in the condition of the people of 
Northern and Central, with those of Southern Africa, 
growing out of the fact, that Mahometanism with all its 
disgusting incidents, exists in the former, and does not 
exist in the latter. 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 61 

Northern and Central Africa. 

The first thing tliat arrested the attention of tlie 
travellers, and continued to interest them throughout, 
was the operations of the institution of slavery ; they 
say: — "On the day previous to our approach to 
Sockna, (a town about half-way between Tripoli 
and Mourzuk, whicli we reached in fourteen days,) 
the uniformity of the journey was somewhat enlivened by 
meeting with a kafilaof slaves from Fezzan, in which were 
about seventy Negresses, much better looking, and more 
healthy, than any we had seen near the sea-coast. They 
were marching in parties of fifteen or twenty ; and on 
our inquiring of one of those parties from whence they 
came, the poor things divided themselves with the great- 
est simplicity, and answered, ' Souden, Begharmi, and 
Kanem,' pointing out the different parcels, from each 
country, as they spoke." 

Extent of the slave market of Mourzuk. — " You pass 
through the fsug, (slave market,) a wide street, with 
houses on each side, three hundred yards in length.'''' 

''NIq had a fsug, or market, in front of one of the 
principal gates of the town ; (Kouka) slaves, sheep and 
bullocks, the latter in great numbers, were the principal 
live stock for sale." 

Boo- Khaloom, {a slave merchant.) — "He was represented 
to us, and truly, as a merchant of very considerable riches 
and influence in the interior. He was on the eve of start- 
ing for Tripoli, from Mourzuk, with really superb presents 
for the bashaws He hdc^five hundred slaves, the handsom- 
est that could be procured, besides other things." 

The Sultan of Mourzuk.—'' It was not till the 18th that 
the sultan, after attending the Mosque, started for Tripoli; 



62 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

all his camels and suite had marched in divisions, for 
three days previous — in slaves he had alone, more than one 
thousand five hundred.'''' 

Capturing slaves. — "The sultan of Mandara had given no 
intimation whatever of his intentions with regard to Boo- 
Khaloom's destination, and in consequence, the impatience 
and discontent of the latter were extreme. Offerings poured 
in from all the Kerdy nations ; (Negroes who have not em- 
braced the Mahometan faith ;) and the sultan excused 
himself to Boo-Khaloom for the delay, on account of the 
extreme tractability of the people around him, who he said 
were becoming Musselmans without force. Again Mus- 
gow was mentioned ; adding, that the warlike arm of the 
Arabs, bearing the sword of the prophet, might turn 
their hearts. This hypocrisy, however, Boo-Khaloom 
inveighed against most loudly to me, declaring that the 
conversion of the Kerdy people would lose him (the sul- 
tan) thousands of slaves, as their constant wars with each 
other afforded them the means of supplying him abun- 
dantly." 

One of the travellers speaking of his arrival at the 
palace of the sultan of Mandara, and of his desire to visit 
the neighboring mountains, says : "I was conducted into 
the presence of the chief eunuch ; he desired me to stop 
within about twelve yards of him, and then said, ' The 
sultan could not imagine what I wanted at the hills. Did 
I wish to catch the Kerdies alone ? — that I had better 
buy them, — he would sell me as many as I pleased. '' I 
assured him that I did not wish to go at all to the hills if 
the sultan had the slightest objection, that it was purely 
curiosity ; and that as to catching Kerdies, I would not • 
take them if given to me." 

The taking of the Kerdy town of Dirkulla, is thus 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVEKY. 53 

related : '' On emerging from the wood, the large Felatah 
of Dirk alia was perceivable, and the Arabs were formed 
in front, headed by Boo-Khaloom : they were flanked on 
each side by a large body of cavalry ; and as they moved 
on, shouting the Arab war-cry, v/hich is very inspiring, I 
thought I could perceive a smile between Barca Gana and 
the chiefs, at Boo-Khaloom's expense. Dirkulla was 
quickly burnt, and another small town near it ; and the 
few inhabitants that were found in them, who were chiefly 
infants and aged persons, unable to escape, were put to 
death without mercy^ or thrown into the jlamesP 

A lengthy account, of which the preceding paragraph 
is the commencement, is closed thus : " Boo-Khaloom's 
imprudence in having suffered himself to be persuaded to 
attack the Felatahs became now apparent, as although in 
case of his overcoming them, he might have appropriated 
to himself all the slaves, both male and female, that he 
found amongst them ; yet the Felatahs themselves were 
Moslem, and he could not have made them slaves." 

Alluding to a people called Munga, who were difficult 
to be controlled by the shieks, although Musselmen, it is 
said : " Another complaint against the Mongowy was, 
that they were kaflfering and not saying their prayers ! 
the dogs. This is, however, a fault which is generally 
laid to the charge of any nation against whom a true 
Musselman wages war, as it gives him the power of mak- 
ing them slaves. By the laws of Mahomet, one believer 
must not bind another." 

" The town of Kabshary, where we halted, had been 
nearly destroyed by the Mongowy. On attacking a 
place, it is the custom of the country instantly to fire it ; 
and as they are all composed of straw huts only, the 



54 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

whole is shortly devoured by the flames. The unfortu* 
nate inhabitants fly quickly from the destructive element, 
and fall immediately into the hands of their no less merci- 
less enemies, who surround the place. The men are 
quickly massacred, and the women and children lashed 
together and made slaves." 

A reconnoitering party had gone out, and "about 
three in the afternoon they began to return, bringing 
with them women and children of both sexes, to the 
amount of eight hundred. One Shouaa, a friend of mine, 
brought a poor woman with four children, two in her 
arms, and two on the father's horse, who had been 
stabbed for defending those he held most dear upon 
earth." 

Gangs of slaves. — No kafilais permitted to enter Kouka 
during the sheikah's absence, nor dare the merchants 
offer any goods for sale till they have his permission. On 
this account, one consisting of ten merchants from 
Soudan, was ordered to encamp at a short distance from 
US, and await the movements of the army. They had 
nearly a hundred slaves, the greater part female, girls of 
from twelve to eighteen years of age, some of them from 
Nyffee, and still farther to the west, of a deep copper color, 
and beautifully formed ; but few of these were ironed. 
The males, who were mostly young, were linked together 
in couples by iron rings round their legs ; yet they 
laughed, and seemed in good condition." 

" It is a common practice with the merchants to induce 
one slave to persuade his companions, that on arriving at 
Tripoli, they will be free, and clothed in red, a color all 
Kegroes are passionately fond of; by which promises they 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 55 

are induced to submit quietly, until they are too far from 
their homes to render escape possible but at the risk of 
starvation. If the hundreds, nay thousands of skeletons 
that whiten in the blast between this place [Kouka] and 
Mourzak did not, of themselves, tell a tale replete with 
woe, the difference of appearance in all slaves here (where 
they are fed tolerably), and the state in which they 
usually arrive in Fezzan, would but too clearly prove the 
acuteness of the sufferings vv^hich commence on their 
leaving the negro country." 

*' Two kafilas passed us to-day, on their way to Kouka. 
They consisted of one hundred and fifty slaves, with 
about twenty merchants and their servants, and thirty 
camels. Most of the people ran to the outskirts of the 
camp to see them pass, it being the custom on these occa- 
sions, to dress out these poor victims of the most cruel 
avarice that certainly ever entered into the breast of man, 
in rags of different colors, only to be taken from them 
again on the procession being over. The merchants, 
who gratify their vanity the most in this way, lose, it is 
said, fewer slaves ; but I observed several of these before 
me, whose unbidden tears flowed down their cheeks as 
they drew their mantles close round them, seeming to 
wish by that means to stifle their misery with the appear- 
ance of it." 

A pland'.r lag party. — A plundering excursion among the 
Begharmi by the sheikh of Kouka, is thus related : "The 
plunder was said to have amounted to four hundred and 
eighty horses, and nearly two hundred women, with two 
eunuchs, and the baggage of the princes, which was 
carried on bullocks and asses. Fifty of their women 



56 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

w-ere sirias [slaves worthy of being admitted into the 
seraglio], of great beauty, belonging to the sultan's sons, 
and these were all given up to the sheikh. A\rhen the 
rejoicing for the victory began to abate a little, the fsug 
was crowded with slaves taken from the Begharmi, and 
they were cheap in proportion to their numbers. I saw 
several fine boys and girls sold for two or three bullocks 
— ten dollars. And a shouaa was extremely anxious for 
the red cap on my head, for which, with an old muslin 
turban, he offered me a very pretty girl, about fourteen 
years old." 

" When I appeared before the sultan" [of Angala], 
says one of the travellers, " he examined me very 
minutely, when the shade was again drawn. I begged 
for permission to embark on the Shary, and was told he 
would consider of it. He particularly inquired if I 
wished to purchase Uloivy, or handsome female slaves, 
which I assured him I did not ; ' because,' said he, 'if you 
do, go no further : I have some hundreds, and will sell 
them to you as cheap as any one.' " 

Emploi/ments of female slaves. — " There are a particular 
class of female slaves here [Kouka] to whom the duty of 
watching and laboring in the fields of grain is always 
allotted. I have before said, that all laborious work is 
performed by that sex v/e consider as the weakest, and 
whom we employ in the more domestic duties only — and 
it is to them this perilous work is assigned. The female 
slaves from Musgow are never bought by the Tripoli or 
Fezzan traders: their features, naturally large and ugly, 
are so much disfigured by the silver stud which they 
wear in the under lip, that no purchaser would be found 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 57 

for them; besides the loss of the two front teeth, which 
are punched out to make way for the silver, which goes 
quite through into their mouths, the weight of the metal, 
after a year or two, drags the lip down, so as to make it 
quite lie on the chin, and gives a really frightful appear- 
ance to the face. These poor creatures, therefore, who 
are generally of a strong make, and patient under their 
sufferings, guard the crops and collect the harvest, and a 
year seldom passes without several of them being 
snatched away by lions, who, crouching under cover of 
the ripening corr^. spring on their prey and bear it off." 

Sports. — '' Since the feast day of the Aid Kebir, there 
had been, on an evening, an assembly of persons before 
the shiekh's gate, [at Kouka,] when the most athletic and 
active of the slaves came out and wrestled in the presence 
of their masters and the shiekh himself, who usually took 
his post at a little window over the principal gate of the 
palace. Barca Gana, Ali Gana, Yv^ormah, Tirab, and all 
the chiefs, were usually seated on mats in the inner rino- 
and I generally took my place beside them. Quickness 
and main strength were the qualifications which insured 
victory; they struggled with a bitterness wdiich could 
scarcely have been exceeded in the armed contests of the 
Eoman gladiators, and which was greatly augmented by 
the voices of their masters urging them to the most stren- 
uous exertion of their powers. A rude trumpet of the 
buffalo's horn sounded to the attack, and the combatants 
entered the arena naked, with the exception of a leathern 
girdle about the loins; and those who had been victorious 
on former occasions were received with loud acclamations 
by the spectators. Slaves of all nations were first matched 
8* 



£8 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

against each other; of these, the natives of Soudan were 
the least powerful, and seldom victors. The most ardu- 
ous struggles were between the Musgowy and the Beg- 
harmi negroes. Some of these slaves, and particularly 
the latter, were beautifully formed, and of gigantic stature; 
but the feats of the day always closed by the matching of 
two Begharmis against each other, and dislocated limbs 
or death were often the consequence of these kindred en- 
counters. They commence by placing their hands on each 
other's shoulders; of their feet they make no use, but fre- 
quently stoop down, and practice a hundred deceptions, to 
throw the adversary off his guard; when the other will 
seize his antagonist by the hips, and, after holding him in 
the air, dash him against the ground with stunning vio- 
lence, where he lies covered with blood, and unable to 
pursue the contest. I have seen them foam and bleed at 
the mouth and nose from pure rage and exertion, their 
owners all the time vying with each other in using expres- 
sions most likely to excite their fury : one chief will draw 
a pistol, and swear by the Koran that his slave shall not 
survive an instant his defeat, and with the same breath 
offer him great rewards if he conquers. Both of these 
promises are sometimes too faithfully kept ; and one poor 
wretch, who had withstood the attacks of a ponderous 
Negro, much more than his match, from some country to 
the south of Mandara, for more than fifty minutes, turned 
his eye reproachfully on his threatening master only for 
an instant, when his antagonist slipped his hands down 
from the shoulders to the loins, and, by a sudden twist, 
raised his knee to his chest, and fell with his whole weight 
on the poor slave, (who was from Soudan,) snapping his 
spine in the fall." 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 69 

Hardships of Slaves. — "The depth of the well at Mesh- 
roo is from sixteen to twenty feet; the water good, and 
free from saline impregnations. The ground around is 
strewed with human skeletons, the slaves who have 
arrived, exhausted with thirst and fatigue. The horrid 
consequences of the slave trade were strongly brought to 
our mind ; and although its horrors are not equal to those 
of the European trade, still they are sufficient to call up 
every sympathy, and rouse up every spark of humanity. 
They are dragged over deserts, water often fails, and pro- 
visions scarcely provided for the long and dreary journey. 
The Moors ascribe the numbers to the cruelty of the Tib- 
boo traders : there is perhaps too much truth in the accu- 
sation. Every few miles a skeleton was seen, through the 
whole day ; some were partially covered with sand, others 
with only a small mound, formed by the wind ; one hand 
often lay under the head, and frequently both, as if in 
the act of compressing the head. The skin and membra- 
nous substance all shrivelled up and dry from the state 
of the air : the thick muscular and internal parts only 
decay." 

"About sunset we halted near a well, within half a 
mile of Meshroo. Kound this spot were lying more than 
one hundred skeletons, some of them with the skin still 
remaining attached to the bones— not even a little sand 
thrown over them. The Arabs laughed heartily at my 
expression of horror, and said, ' they were only blacks, 
nam hoo P [damn their fathers!] and began knocking 
about the limbs with the butt-end of their firelocks, say- 
ing, ' This w^as a woman ! this was a youngster !' and 
such like unfeeling expressions. I was assured that they 
had left Bornou with not above a quarter's allowance for 



60 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

each ; and that more died from want than fatigae. They 
were marched off with chains round their necks and legs. 
The most robust only arrived in Fezzan in a very debili- 
tated state, and were there fattened for the Tripoli slave 
market. Our camels did not come up until it was quite 
dark, and we bivouacked in the midst of these unearthed 
remains of the victims of persecution and avarice, after a 
long day's journey of twenty-six miles, in the course of 
which one of our party counted one hundred and seven 
of these skeletons." 

"One of the skeletons we passed to-day had aj very 
fresh appearance ; the beard was still hanging to the skin 
of the face, and the features were still discernible. A 
merchant travelling with the kafila suddenly exclaimed, 
'That was my slave! I left him behind four months ago, 
near this spot.' ' Make haste, take him to ihefiiig^ [mar- 
ket], said an Arab wag, ' for fear anybody else should 
claim him.' " 

** Skeletons lay about, mangled in a shocking manner; 
here a leg, there an arm, fixed with their ligaments, at 
considerable distances from the trunk." 

" During the last two days we had passed, on an average, 
from sixty to eighty or ninety skeletons each day ; but 
the numbers that lay about the wells at El-Hammar were 
countless. Those of two women, whose perfect and 
regular teeth bespoke them young, were particularly 
shocking; their arms still remained clasped round each 
other as they had expired, although the flesh had long 
since perished, by being exposed to the burning rays of 
the sun, and the blackened bones only left. The nails of 
the fingers, and some of the sinews of the hand, also re- 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. Gl 

mained, and part of the tongue of one of them still 
appeared through the teeth." 

Southern Africa, 

Ignorance^ subjection, filthiness, Sc. — Speaking of the 
Balalas, (poor ones among the Bechuana tribes,) Moffat 
sajs: " Though in general, they are able to state to what 
chief or tribe they belong, yet from want of intercourse, and 
from desolating wars, which are only waged w4iere there is 
prospect of plunder, great numbers of them become, in 
their isolated position, independent. They are never per- 
mitted to keep cattle, and are exposed to the caprice, 
cupidity and tyranny of the town-lords, whenever they 
happen to come in their way. They live a hungry life, 
being dependent on the chase, wild roots, berries, locusts, 
and, indeed, anythiug eatable that comes wdthin their 
reach ; and when they have a more than usual supplj^, 
they will bury it in the earth, from their superiors, who 
are in the habit of taking [from them] wdiat they please. 
Kesistance on their part would be instantly aveuged with 
the deadly javelin. When hunting parties go out to kill 
game, the Belala, men and women, are employed to carry 
grievous burdens of flesh to the rendezvous of the hun- 
ters ; in return for which, they receive the offals of the 
meat, and are made drudges, so long as the party remains. 
They are never permitted to wear the furs of foxes and 
other animals they obtain. The flesh they may eat ; but 
the skins are conveyed to the towns, for which they obtain 
a small piece of tobacco, or an old spear or knife. Indeed, 
all the valuable skins of the larger animals, w^hich they 
sometimes procure by hunting and pitfalls, as w^ell as the 
better portions of the meat, they have to yield to their 



62 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

nominal masters, except when they succeed in secreting 
the whole, for their own use. Their servile state, their 
scanty clothing, their exposure to the inclemency of the 
weather, and their extreme poverty, have, as may be 
easily conceived, a deteriorating influence on their charac- 
ter and condition. They are generally less in stature, and 
though not deficient in intellect, the life they lead gives 
a melancholy cast to their features, and from constant in- 
tercourse with beasts of prey and serpents in their path, 
as well as exposure to harsh treatment, they appear shy, 
and have a wild, and frequently suspicious look. Nor 
can this be wondered at, when it is remembered that they 
associate with savage beasts, from the lion that roams 
abroad by night and day, to the deadly serpent which in- 
fests their path, keeping them always on the alert, during 
their perambulations. All this, and much more, which 
might be said of the Balala, msij also, with the strictest 
propriety, be affirmed of the Bushmen." 

The following extract is by no means to be confined to 
any particular class, but will apply to all : " When M'r 
Hamilton arrived at Flose Fountain, two days' journey 
south of our station on the Kuruman, a circumstance oc- 
curred which may be noticed, were it only to show what 
human beings are in certain situations. Halting at the 
above place in the evening, a dead horse was found that 
had belonged to one of the Griquas, and which had been 
killed by the bite of a serpent. Next morning the women 
fell on the swollen and half putrid carcase, and began, 
like so many wolves, to tear it limb from limb; everj^ one 
securing as much as she could for herself. M'r H., who 
looked on with utter amazement, advised them to avoid 
the part where the animal was bitten. To his friendly 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 63 

warning they paid no attention whatever; in the space of 
about an hour a total dissection was effected, and every 
particle of skin, meat, bone, the entrails and their con- 
tents, were carried off. M'r H. was obliged to remain the 
whole day, finding it absolutely impossible to induce 
them to leave the spot till every particle was devoured, 
and in the evening they actually danced and sang with 
joy." There was no necessity for this, for the people 
were allowed a regular supply of rations by the mission- 
ary. 

Inhumanity to CliUdren. — Kicherer says: "Their man- 
ner of life is extremely wretched and disgusting. They 
delio"ht to besmear their bodies with the fat of animals, 
mingled with ochre, and sometimes with grime. They 
are utter strangers to cleanliness, as they never wash their 
bodies, but suffer the dirt to accumulate, so that it will 
hang a considerable length from their elbows. They are 
total strangers to domestic happiness. The men have 
several wives, [slaves,] but conjugal affection is little 
known. They take no great care of their children, and 
never correct them except in a fit of rage, when they 
almost kill them by severe usage." 

" Tame Hottentots seldom destroy their children, ex- 
cept in a fit of passion ; but the Bushmen will kill their 
children without remorse, on various occasions — as when 
they are ill-shaped ; when they are in want of food ; when 
the father of a child has forsaken its mother, &c., in which 
case they will strangle them, smother them, cast them 
away in the desert, or bury them alive." 

Inhumanity to Parents.— ''AmoDg the poorer classes, it is 
indeed struggling for existence ; and when the aged be- 



64 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

come too weak to provide for themselves, and are a burden 
to those whom they brought forth and reared to manhood, 
they are not unfrequently abandoned by their own chil- 
dren, with a meal of victuals and a cruse of water, to 
perish in the desert. I have seen a small circle of stakes 
fastened in the ground, within which were still lying the 
bones of a parent, bleaching in the sun, who had been 
thus abandoned. In one instance, I observed a small 
broken earthenware vessel, in which the last draught of 
water had been left. * What is this,' I said, pointing to 
the stakes, addressing Africaner. His reply was, ' This 
is heathenism ;' and then described this parricidal custom. 
M'r Moffat thus describes another instance of this kind, 
in a different stage of progress : ' On reaching the spot, 
we beheld an object of heart-rending distress. It was a 
venerable-looking old woman, a living skeleton, sitting, 
with her head leaning on her knees. She appeared terri- 
fied at our presence, and especially at me. She tried to 
rise, but trembling with weakness, sunk again to the 
earth. I addressed her by the name which sounds sweet 
in every clime, and charms even the savage ear: 'My 
mother, fear not, we are friends, and will do you no harm.' 
I put several questions to her, but she appeared either 
speechless, or afraid to open her lips. I again repeated, 
' Pray, mother, who are you, and how do you come to be 
in this situation ?' To which she replied, ' I am a woman. 
I have been here four days ; my children have left me 
here to die!' 'Your children!' I interrupted. 'Yes,' 
raising her hand to her shrivelled bosom, ' my own chil- 
dren, three sons and two daughters. They are gone,' 
pointing with her finger, 'to yonder blue mountain, and 
have left me to die.' 'And pray, why did they leave 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 65 

jou?' I iriqaired. Spreading out her hands, 'I am old, 
you see, and am no longer able to serve them ; when they 
kill game, I am too feeble to help in carrying home the 
flesh ; I am not able to gather wood to make fire ; and I 
cannot carry their children on my back, as I used to do,' 
I remarked that I was surprised that she had escaped the 
lions, w^hich seemed to abound, and to have approached 
very near the spot where she was. She took hold of the 
skin of her left arm with her fingers, and raising it np, as 
one would do a loose linen, she added, ' I hear the lions, 
but there is nothing on me that they would eat ; I have 
no flesh on me for them to scent.' I have often reasoned 
with the natives on this cruel practice, in reply to which 
they would only laugh !" 

Propensity to steal, &c. — "As many men and women as 
pleased, might come into our hut, leaving us not room 
even to turn ourselves, and making everything they 
touched the color of their own greasy, red attire ; while 
some were talking, others would be sleeping, and some 
pilfering whatever they could lay their hands upon. This 
would keep a housewife a perfect prisoner, in a suffocating 
atmosphere, almost intolerable ; and when they departed 
they left ten times more than their number behind — com- 
pany still more offensive. As it w^as not pleasant to take 
our meals amongst such filth, our dinner was often deferred 
for hours, hoping for their departure ; but, after all, it had 
to be eaten when the natives were despatching their game 
at our feet. Our attendance at public worship would vary 
from one to forty ; and these very often manifested the 
greatest indecorum. Some would be snoring; others 
laughing; some working; and others, who might even be 
styled the noblesse, would be employed in removing from 



66 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

their ornaments certain nameless insects, letting them run 
about the forms, while sitting by the missionary's wife. 
ISTever having been accustomed to chairs or stools, some, 
by way of imitation, would sit with their feet on the 
benches, having their knees, according to their usual mode 
of sitting, drawn up to their chins. In this position, one 
would fall asleep and tumble over, to the great merriment 
of his fellows. On some occasions an opportunity would 
be watched to rob, when the missionary was engaged in 
public service. The thief would just put his head within 
the door, discover who was in the pulpit, and knowing he 
could not leave his rostrum before a certain time had 
elapsed, would go to his house and take what he could lay 
his hands upon. Some nights, or rather mornings, we had 
to record thefts committed in the course of twenty-four 
hours, in our houses, our smith-shop, our garden, and 
among our cattle in the field." 

War. — There are incessant wars waged between the 
different tribes. These wars are engaged in, without pro- 
vocation in general, and for the simple reason that one 
party desires to possess the property and persons (whom 
they enslave) of another — the spoils furnish the induce- 
ment. On these occasions, the utmost cruelty is observed 
by the conquering party. Alluding to one of these plun- 
dering excursions, which, however, was unfortunate, Moffat 
says : " It was afterwards discovered that the enemy had 
resolutely determined to kill, as well as to steal, and set 
the place on fire, which they used their utmost exertions 
to accomplish. Having heard that this party had, in their 
course, deliberately murdered all the unoffending natives 
who had fallen into their hands, I inquired of the prison- 
ers after they had been some time with us, if their minds 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 67 

never revolted at sucli crimes, as deliberately killing inno- 
cent females and children, who possessed nothing to tempt 
their cupidity, but who had cheerfully served them with 
wood and water. I shall never forget the reply of one, 
who, after sitting some minutes motionless in deep reflec- 
tion, said, 'Mynheer, the heart of man is a wonderful 
thing ; there is nothing which it cannot do. Custom 
makes even murder a plaything.' " 

We present the following as a common instance of their 
barbarity after a battle : " The wounded enemy they 
baited with stones, clubs, and spears, accompanied with 
yellings and countenances indicative of fiendish joy. The 
helpless women found no quarter, especially if they pos- 
sessed anything like ornaments to tempt the cupidity of 
their plunderers. A few copper rings round the neck, 
from which it was difficult to take them, was the signal 
for the already uplifted battle-axe to sever the head from 
the trunk, or the arm from the body, when the plunderer 
would grasp, with a smile, his bloody trophies. Others, 
in order to be able to return home with the triumph of 
victory, would pursue the screaming boy or girl, and not 
satisfied with severing a limb from the human frame, 
would exhibit their contempt for the victims of their cruel 
revenge, by seizing the head and hurling it from them, or 
kicking it to a distance." 

Murder. — "I was in the habit of concluding, from facts 
about which I have not deemed it necessary to be very 
minute, that the Batlapis were, as a people, not only very 
ignorant and depraved, but exceedingly brutal: however, 
a short stay among the Barolongs convinced me that the 
latter far exceeded the former. An intelligent traveller, 



6S SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

(DV Burchell,) was not mistaken, when he was obliged, 
most reluctantly, to come to the conclusion, that ' the foulest 
blot on their character, is the indifference with which 
murder is viewed among them. It excites little sensation, 
except in the family of the person who has been murdered; 
and brings, it is said, no disgrace upon him who has com- 
mitted it ; nor uneasiness, excepting the fear of their re- 
venge.' During my stay at Kongke, an instance occurred 
confirming the view of D'r Burchell. A man was quar- 
relling with his wife about a very trifling affair, when in a 
fit of rage he grasped his spear, and laid her at his feet a 
bleeding corpse! Here there were no coroners, nor jury, 
to take cognizance of the fact, and he walked about with- 
out a blush, while the lifeless body was dragged out to be 
devoured by the hyenas. When I endeavored to represent 
to the chiefs, with whom I was familiar, as old acquaint- 
ances, the magnitude of such crimes, they laughed, I might 
say inordinately, at the horror I felt for the murder of a 
woman by her own husband ! " 

Speaking of Moselekatse, a king, a very cruel man, 
Moffat says: "When I recommended a system which 
would secure not only safety, but plenty to his people, 
without the unnatural one of keeping up a force of many 
thousands of unmarried warriors, he tried to «onvince me 
that his people were happy, and to a stranger they might 
appear so, for alas, they dared not let any murmur reach 
his ear ; but I knew more than he was aware of. I knew 
many a couch was steeped with silent tears, and many an 
acre stained with human blood. About ten minutes after 
the conversation, a lovely boy, a son of one of his many 
wives, sat smiling on my knee, caressing me as if I were 
his father. As some of the king's harem was seated near, 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVEKY. 69 

I asked the boy which was his mother. He shook his 
little liead and sighed. I asked no more, but learned soon 
after tliat the mother, who was the daughter of a captive 
chief, was a superior woman, and took the liberty of re- 
monstrating with her lord on the multitude of his concu- 
bines. In the morning she was dragged out of her house, 
and her head severed from her bod}^" 

Polygamy. — This disgusting and abominable vice, than 
which none is better calculated to debauch the heart, pre- 
vails all over Africa, among all ranks, from the highest to 
the lowest. Alluding to the difficulties with which the 
missionary is embarrassed, this is reckoned as one of the 
most formidable. Moffat says: " Polygamy was another 
obstacle, and the Bechuanas, jealous of any diminution in 
their self-indulgence, by being deprived of the services 
of their wives, [who are the slaves of their husbands,] 
looked with an extremely suspicious eye on any innovation 
on this ancient custom. The men, for obvious reasons, 
found it convenient to have a number of such vassals, 
rather than only one, while the woman would be perfectly 
amazed at one's ignorance, were she to be told that she 
would be much happier in a single state, or widowhood, 
than being the mere concubine and drudge of a haughty 
husband, who spent the greater part of his life in lounging 
in the shade, while she was compelled, for his comfort, as 
well as her own, to discharge the heavier task of agri- 
culture, buildinfy the houses, fencing;', brinfrino^ fire-wood; 
and heavier than all, nature's charge, the rearing of a 
family." Lynch says: "Polygamy is universal, the num- 
ber of wives being the measure of a man's wealth." It 
is easy to perceive that this custom is supported by the 
women, from the consideration that the larger the number 



70 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

of wives a husband may have, the greater division there 
must be of the burdens imposed upon them. This not 
only reconciles them to the custom, but prompts them to 
urge it upon their husbands. 

No Religion. — Dr. Vanderkemp says : '^ If by reh'gion 
we mean reverence for Grod, or the external action by 
which that reverence is expressed, I never could perceive 
that they had any religion, nor any idea of the existence 
of a God. I am speaking nationally, for there are many 
individuals who have some notion of His existence, which 
they have received from adjacent nations." This idea of 
God, possessed by adjacent nations, and communicated to 
the Kafirs, about whom D'r V. is writing, is distinctly 
traceable to the teachings of missionaries. What is re- 
lated here of the Kafirs, " will equally apply to the Hot- 
tentots and Namaques, who are one people :" indeed, it 
will apply to all the people of Southern Africa. 

The native mind does not seem, in its uncultivated con- 
dition, to possess the ability of entertaining an idea of the 
Divine Being : for sometimes after hours of patient exer- 
tion on the part of the missionary to convey this idea, he 
would be perplexed with the question, asked with a most 
vacantstare, "Whatis it you wish to tellme?" ''Inquiring 
one day of a group of natives whom I had been addressing, 
if any of them had previously known that Great Being 
which had been described to them, among the whole party 
I found only one old woman, who said that she remem- 
bered hearing the name Morimo, (Molimo, according to 
native pronunciation, the term adopted by the mission- 
aries for God,) when she was a child, but was not told 
what the thing was." 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 71 

A chief one day, attending the instructions of a mis- 
sionary, after listening attentively for some time, exclaimed 
with amazement, " that a man whom he accounted 
wise, should vend such fables for truths. Calling about 
thirty of his men who stood near him, to approach, he 
addressed them, pointing to me, ' There is Ka-Mary, 
(father of Mary,) who tells me that the heavens were 
made, the earth also, by a beginner, whom he calls Morimo. 
Have you ever heard anything to be compared with this? 
He says that the sun rises and sets by the power of Mori- 
mo ; as also, that Morimo causes winter to follow summer; 
the winds to blow ; the rain to fall; the grass to grow, and 
the trees to bud ; and casting his arm above and around 
him, added, God works in everything you see or hear ! 
Did you ever hear such v/ords?' Seeing them ready to 
burst with laughter, he said, ' Wait, I shall tell you more ; 
Ra-Mary tells me that we have spirits in us, which will 
never die ; and that our bodies, though dead and buried, 
will rise and live again. Open your eyes to-day ; did you 
ever hear litlamane (fables) like these?' This was fol- 
lowed by a burst of deafening laughter, and on its par- 
tially subsiding, the chief man begged me to say no more 
on such trifles, lest the people should think me mad." 

M'rSchmelin, a missionary among the Namaquas, says: 
"After service, I spent some time conversing with the 
aged, but found them extremely ignorant ; some of them 
could not conceive of a being higher than man, and had 
not the least idea of the immortality of the soul." 

Africaner being asked by M'r Campbell, " what his 
views of God were before he enjoyed the benefit of 
Christian instruction ? replied, that he never thought any- 



72 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

thing at all on tliese subjects ; that he thought about noth- 
ing but his cattle. He admitted that he had heard of a 
God, (well might he, being brought up in the colony,) but 
at the same time stated that his views of God were so er- 
roneous, that the name suggested no more to his mind 
than something that might be found in the form of an 
insect, or in the lid of a snuff-box." 

M'r Anderson says : " AYhen I went among the Griquas, 
and for some time after, they were without the smallest 
marks of civilization. If I except one woman, (who had 
by some means got a trifling article of colonial raiment,) 
they had not one thread of European clothing among them; 
and their wretched appearance and habits were such as 
might have excited in our minds an aversion to them, had 
we not been actuated by principles which led us to pity 
them, and served to strengthen us in pursuing the object 
of our missionary work ; they were, in many instances, 
little above the brutes." 

Eelative to the Bechuanas, Moffat says: "When we 
attempted to convince them of their state as sinners, they 
would boldly affirm, with full belief in their, innate recti- 
tude, that there was not a sinner in the tribe ; referring 
us to other nations whom they dreaded, or with whom 
they were at war; and especially tlie poor despised Bush- 
men." Our author continues: "I often feel at a loss 
what to say relative to the kingdom of Christ, at this sta- 
tion. A sameness marks the events of each returning day. 
No conversions; no inquiry after God; no objections 
raised to exercise our powers in defence. Indifference and 
stupidity, form the wreath on every brow — ignorance, the 
grossest ignorance of divine things, forms the basis of 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 73 

every action ; it is only things earthly, sensual and devil- 
ish, which stimulate to activity and mirth, while the great 
subject of the soul's redemption appears to them like an 
old and ragged garment, possessing neither loveliness nor 
worth. We preach, we converse, we catechise, we pray, 
but without the least apparent success. Only satiate their 
mendicant spirits by perpetually giving, and we are all 
that is good, but refuse to meet their demands, their praises 
are turned to ridicule and abuse." 

Alluding to Makaba, king of the Bauangketsi, he says : 
" Sitting down beside this great man, illustrious for war 
and conquest, I stated to him that my object was to tell 
him my news. His countenance lighted up, hoping to 
hear of feats of war, destruction of tribes, and such like 
subjects, so congenial to his savage disposition. When 
he found that my topics had solely a reference to the 
Great Being of whom, the day before, he had told me he 
knew nothing; and of the Saviour's mission to this world, 
whose name he said he had never heard, he resumed his 
knife and jackall's skin, and hummed a native air. One 
of his men, sitting near me, appeared struck with the 
character of the Eedeemer, which I was endeavoring to 
describe, and particularly with His miracles. On hearing 
that He raised the dead, he very naturally exclaimed, 
What an excellent doctor he must have been, to make 
dead men live ! " 

On visiting a village of the Barolongs, M'r M. "talked 
to them to convince them that there was something else 
beyond eating and drinking, which ought to command 
their attention. This was to them inexplicable, while the 
description I gave of the character of God, and our sinful 
4 



74 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

and helpless condition, amused them only, and extorted 
some expressions of sympathy, that a Mo5?', (king,) as 
they called me, should talk such foolishness. My preach- 
ing and speaking did, indeed, appear to be casting seed 
by the way side, or on the flinty rock, while they would 
gravely ask if I were in earnest, and believed that there 
was such a Being as I described ? It was indeed painful 
to hear them turning the theme of man's redemption and 
the Cross into ridicule, and making sport of immortality." 
So gross was the ignorance of the people of Southern 
Africa that Mr. Moffat seems strongly inclined to doubt 
the great truth of the innate and intuitive ideas of natural 
light ; or, more properly, natural religion. He says : " I 
had with me one of the best interpreters, himself a child 
of God, and tried one native after another, to make my 
own point good : [that is, to establish the fact that the 
human mind has in it, under all circumstances, some idea 
of the supreme Being :] sometimes I would even put 
words into the mouth of Africaner, and ask, ' Does he 
not mean so and so ?' In some there was a glimmering 
of light ; but again, I found to my mortification, that 
this had been received from the ' hat-wearers,' as they 
called the people from the south, or from M'r Schmelin's 
station at Bethany, whom they denominated, ' the peo- 
ple that talked about God.' " We do not see in this, or in 
anything else connected with the ISTegroes of Africa, any 
reason to doubt the great truth alluded to, and which is 
asserted by all theologians. The case of the Negroes of 
Africa, in this regard, is only an exception to the general 
rule. We see, in these people, not only mental, but phys- 
ical peculiarities, which distinguish them from all other 
peoples, which peculiarities suffice to show, both the ex= 



INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 75 

tent of their wickedness and the extent of the curse of 
Noah's prophecy. This explanation appears to us to 
be perfectly satisfactory ; it maintains the generally en- 
tertained idea of natural religion, and exhibits the reason 
for the ignorance of the African Negroes on divine subjects. 

Here we close our extracts, directing the reader to the 
perusal of the authors from whom they were taken, if he 
desires to have a perfect knowledge of African slavery 
and African ignorance, as they exist at this day. 

In this chapter we have traced the Ham family, show- 
ing the fate of its respective branches. We have shown 
the establishment of slavery and its cause. We have 
shown that slavery existed before the organization of the 
Church, with Abraham and his posterity. Our duty, in 
the next chapter, will be to show the regulation of slav- 
ery. 



CHAPTER II. 

REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 

Section 1. 

Slavery in the Churchy contemporaneous with its orgaiiiza- 
tion. — The Bible teaches that Abraham and his house- 
hold were the first members of the Church of God, 
under its present organization. There can be nothing, 
therefore, more interesting than to inquire who composed 
that household. The Bible says, " And Abraham took 
Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and ^ all their 
substance that they had gathered, and the souls they had 
gotten in Haran : and they went forth to go into the 
land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they 
came." 

That the words, *' and the souls they had gotten in 
Haran," mean slaves, no one can for a moment doubt. 
Both Jewish and Christian commentators a^ee in this 
explanation. Jenks, in the Comprehensive Commentary, 
says, ''They took with them the souls they had gotten ; 
that is, the servants they had bought; part of their sub- 
stance, but called souls to remind masters that their ser- 
vants have souls, precious souls, which they ought to 
take care of and provide for." This must be regarded as 
the natural and correct import of the words under con- 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 77 

sideration ; they are incapable of sustaining any other 
interpretation. That this view is correct, will be seen by 
its conformity to other instructions given to Abraham. 

Circumcision. — Circumcision was an ordinance which 
God established in the Church at the time of its organi- 
zation : " And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep 
my covenant therefore; thou, and thy seed after thee, 
in their generations. This is my covenant which ye shall 
keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee ; 
Every man-child among you shall be circumcised. And 
ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin ; and it 
shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." 

Subjects of Circumcision. — " And he that is eight days 
old, shall be circumcised among you ; every man-child 
in your generations ; he that is hor7i in thy house^ or bought 
ivith money of any stranger^ which is not of thy seed. He 
that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy 
money, must needs be circumcised : and my covenant 
shall be in your flesh, for an everlasting covenant." 

Commands so explicit could not be misunderstood ; 
they were faithfully obejed. Abraham is to be regarded 
as standing in the midst of a sinful world, " The friend of 
God." There is much in this divine arrangement to call 
forth our gratitude and thankfulness — more particularly 
that provision which is made for slaves becoming partak- 
ers of the faith of Abraham, or in the covenant made 
with him. The duty is here imposed upon the parent of 
consecrating his infant child to God, and upon the master 
of, in like manner, consecrating his infant slave. The 
duty imposed allows of no difference between the parent 
and the master; both are under the same obligation. 



78 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

This arrangement has no respect to condition, and con- 
templates the dedication of all children to God ; for all 
children should be reared in the Church. 

In obedience to the command, " Abraham took Ish- 
mael his son, ajid all that were born m his house, and that 
were bought with his money ; every male among the men 
of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their 
foreskin, in the self-same day, as God had said unto him. 

" And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when 
he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ish- 
rnael his son, was thirteen years old, when he was cir- 
cumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 

" And all the men of his house, born in the house, and 
bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with 
him." 

The rite of circumcision as here established, completed 
the organization of the Church. The rite included, as 
we have seen, parent and child, master and slave. This 
ordinance was, by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
after his resurrection, changed to that of baptism ; the 
subjects of the ordinance, however, remained as at first. 
Hence, theologians deduce and teach infant baptism. 

These points being ascertained, they distinctly display 
the obligations masters are under of consecrating their in- 
fant slaves to God ; that is, of bringing them into the 
Church that they may be placed directly under the influ- 
ence of religious training. We know of no master in or 
out of the Church who would forbid his adult slave becom- 
ing a member of the Church ; but do masters have their in- 
fant slaves baptized into the church ? Many do ; but truth 
requires us to say that this very plain duty is too much 
neglected, though but few comparatively oppose it. It is 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 79 

no uncommon occurrence for masters out of the Churcli 
to provide the means necessary for their slaves' moral and 
religious instruction. Masters everywhere understand 
the benefit to themselves, at least of their slaves becom- 
ing religious. In this is plainly seen the workings of 
providence in the direction of the great purpose, now 
being accomplished through the agency of slavery. 

The Passover, — After the Israelites had left the land of 
Egypt, God established in the Church another ordinance, 
called the Passover. Particular directions were given to 
Moses, the leader of the Israelites, how this feast, often 
called the feast of unleavened bread, should be prepared 
and eaten. 

Who luei'e alloioed to partake of the Passover. — " And the 
Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance 
of the passover : There shall no stranger eat thereof: 
hut every mail's servant that is bought for money ^ when thou 
hast circumcised him^ then shall he eat thereof A foreigner 
and an hired servant shall not eat thereof In one house 
shall it be eaten : thou shalt not carry forth aught of the 
flesh abroad out of the house ; neither shall ye break a 
bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep 
it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and 
will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be 
circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it ; 
and he shall be as one that is born in the land : for no 
uncircumcised person shall eat thereof One law shall 
be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that 
sojourneth among you." 

This ordinance (like that of circumcision) was changed 
by our Saviour on the night of His betrayal, into the 



80 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

ordinance now observed in the Church, known as the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Here, too, it will be 
observed, that the change of the ordinance did not af- 
fect those who were previously qualified to partake of it. 
Masters and slaves had the same right in each instance. 

Why was there a distinction made between a hired ser- 
vant and a bond servant, with regard to the Passover ? 
For the most obvious reasons. The arrangement of the 
IsraeHtish families, was eminently patriarchal : now a 
hired servant, whose presence was but occasional, was not 
so identified with the particular family, as to be under the 
government and control of its head, in the observance of 
the Mosaic law. It is just so now; the rule is not altered 
in the least : the head of the family, the master, is the 
patriarch of the family — the hired servants that he may 
occasionally employ, are not regarded as of his family, 
therefore he cannot require of them religious observ- 
ances. But with a slave^ the whole case is changed — that 
kind of servant is permanently in the family, and his 
religious training may be required; hence, the master's 
responsibility. 

The Moral Law. — There has passed in the world no 
greater scene of awful sublimity than that which trans- 
pired on Mount Sinai, on the occasion of the promulgation 
of the Law. Nor can there be arranged words expres- 
sive of that scene, more beautiful and impressive than 
those that accompanied its delivery. 

The Law is divided into two tables : the first contains 
the four first ; the second, the six last commandments. 
The first table teaches the entire system of theology 
necessary to be understood and believed : the second 
teaches a complete system of ethics, or moral duties. 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 81 

The system of theological principles and moral duties 
taught by the Law, allowed of no conjectural rules of 
interpretation ; for all principles necessary to be under- 
stood, and all duties required to be performed by it, were 
to be understood and performed just as they were pre- 
scribed — this obligation was imperious. 

If there could be any distinction made in the obliga. 
tionsof the two tables, (which we by no means allow,) the 
greater would seem to be in the observance of the first. So 
high was God's regard for slaves^ that they find in the last 
article of the first table, a protection against hard mas- 
ters : " Kemember the sabbath day to keep it holy — six 
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the 
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it 
thou shalt not do any work ; thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man-servant^ nor thy maid-servant^ nor thy 
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; where- 
fore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed 
it." 

Josephus says : " The seventh day we set apart from 
labor; it is dedicated to the learning of our customs and 
laws : we think it proper to reflect on them, as well as on 
any [good] thing else, in order to our avoiding of sin." 
So great was the veneration of the Hebrews for the sab- 
bath, that under the most pressing emergency, they 
refused to do what they supposed would be a violation of 
its sanctity. Speaking of Mattathias and his followers, 
(who, when required by Antiochns to offer sacrifices 
which they considered unlawful, disobeyed, and had 
taken shelter from his indignation in caves of the desert,) 
4^ 



82 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

our author says : " They, the soldiers of Antiochus, 
burnt them as they were in the caves, without resistance, 
and without as much as stopping up the entrances of 
the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on 
that day because they were not willing to break in 
upon the honor they owed the sabbath, even in such 
distresses ; for our law requires that we rest upon that 
day." 

The stringency of the rule, as observed by the Hebrews, 
was relaxed by our Saviour : acts of necessity and mercy 
may be performed on the Sabbath day, without violating 
its holiness ; so we are taught in the following Scripture : 
" And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the 
sabbath. And, behold there was a woman which had a 
spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, 
and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus 
saw her, he called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, 
thou art loosed from thine infirmity : and he laid His hand 
on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glo- 
rified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered 
with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the 
sabbath day, and said unto the people. There are six days 
in which men ought to work ; in them, therefore, come 
and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord 
then answered him, and said. Thou hypocrite ! doth not 
each one of you, on the sabbath, loose his ox or his ass 
from the stall, and lead him away to watering ? And 
ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, 
whom satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, be 
loosed from this bond on the sabbath day ? And when 
he had said these things, all His adversaries were 
ashamed ; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 83 

things that were done by Him :" therefore slaves may, 
on the sabbath day, be lawfully employed in acts of neces- 
sity and mercy. 

Section 2. 

That the Hebrew people, and their proselytes, formed 
the Church of God until after the resurrection of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, is a fact in which all orthodox Chris- 
tians agree. The Hebrew people, the Church, had every 
rule which their system required, prescribed to them, 
relative to slaves. After our Saviour came, and sub- 
sequently, when religion was to be offered to the Gentiles, 
as such, alterations in the rules relative to slaves, became 
necessary and were made. 

One of the most remarkable features, in the altered 
system, was the recognition of unhelieving masters, or 
masters not of the Church, that is, unprofessing Gentile 
masters. Christian servants are required to yield obedi- 
ence, as readily to unbelieving as to believing masters ; 
and the requirements of the new rules are as binding 
upon unbelieving, as they are upon believing masters. 

It is matter of admiration to contemplate the precision 
with which the slavery of the United States adjusts itself 
to the requirements of the Bible system. Now, it is the Bi- 
ble system of slavery that we advocate, and not any system, 
or course, outside of that system. Any system of slavery 
outside of the Bible system, we regard as of hum.an ori- 
gin, and therefore an abuse. 

But it may be said that there are masters who do not 
regard the requirements of the Bible in the premises ; 
allowing that there are, we remark, that such disregard 
amounts to abuse of the svstem ; and we further remark, 



84 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

tliat every act of abuse is an. exception to the rule, and 
not the rule itself, which is that of general, if not univer- 
sal obedience. If this objection be still urged, we ask, 
What is it that men have not abused ? Who is prepared 
to answer that question ? No system should be con- 
demned for the abuses connected with it. 

Duty of slaves to their masters. — 1. "Servants, be obe- 
dient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, 
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto 
Christ ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but as the 
servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; 
with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to 
men ; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man 
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he 
be bond or free. 

2. "Servants, obey in all things your masters, accord- 
ing to the flesh ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; 
but in singleness of heart, fearing God ; and whatsoever 
ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ; 
knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of 
the inheritance ; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he 
that doeth wrong shall receive for the vi^rong which he 
hath done : and there is no respect of persons. 

3. "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own 
masters, and to please them well in all things ; not answer- 
ing again ; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity : 
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in 
all things. 

4. " Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; 
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward : 
for this is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward 
God endure grief, suffering wrongfully : for what is it, if, 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 85 

when ye be bufFetted for your faults, ye shall take it 
patiently ? but if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye 
take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." 

So unmistakably are the duties of servants stated in 
the above Scriptures, that comment is rendered entirelj^ 
unnecessary. 

Slaves must he content with their condition ; for it does not 
militate against their service of God. — " Let every man 
abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art 
thou called, being a servant? care not for it: but if thou 
may est be made free, use it rather. For he that is called 
in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman : like- 
wise also, he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. 
Ye are bought with a price ; be not ye the servants of 
men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, 
therein abide with God." 

D'r Clarke explains the above Scripture thus : 1. "As 
both the circumcised and uncircumcised, in Christ have 
the same advantages, and to their believing, the same fa- 
cilities ; so any situation of life is equally friendly to the 
salvation of the soul, if a man be faithful to the grace he 
has received. Therefore, in all situations, a Christian 
should be content ; for all things work together for good 
to him who loves God. 

2. 'Art thou converted to Christ, while thou art a 
slave? the property of another person, and bought with 
his money : care not for it : this will not injure thy Chris- 
tian condition : but if thou canst obtain thy liberty, [and 
preserve thy Christian character,] use it rather ; prefer 
this state for the sake of freedom, and the temporal ad- 
vantages connected with it. 



86 SLAVEEY IN" THE UNITED STATES. 

8. " The man who, being a slave, is converted to the 
Christian faith, is the Lord's freeman ; his condition as a 
slave does not vitiate any of the privileges to which he is 
entitled as a Christian : on the other hand, all freemen 
who receive the grace of Christ, must consider themselves 
slaves of the Lord, i. e. His real property, to be employed 
and disposed of, according to His godly wisdom ; who, 
notwithstanding his state of subjection, will find the 
service of his master to be perfect freedom. 

4. " As truly as your bodies have become the property 
of your masters, in consequence of his paying down a 
price for you; so sure you are now the Lord's property, 
in consequence of your being purchased by the blood of 
Christ. 

" In this Scripture the apostle shows that the Christian 
religion does not abolish our civil connections: — in refer- 
ence to them, where it finds us, there it leaves us. In 
whatever relation we stood before our em^bracing Christian- 
ity, there we stand still ; our secular condition being no far- 
ther changed, than as it may be affected by the meliora- 
tion of our moral character." 

Duty of masters to their slaves. — ''And ye masters do the 
same things unto them, \_see Eph. F/.] forbearing threat- 
ening; knowing that your Master also, is in heaven; 
neither is there respect of persons with Him. 

"Masters give unto your servants that which is just 
and equal; knowing that ye also, have a Master in 
heaven." 

Relation in which Christianity regards master and slave. — 
"Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their 
own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God 
and His doctrine, be not blasphemed. 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 87 

"And they that have believing masters, let them not- 
despise them, because they are brethren ; but rather do 
them service, because they are faithful and beloved, par 
takers of the benefit." 

False teachers rehuhed. — '^ If any man teach otherwise, 
and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is accord- 
ing to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doat- 
ing about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh 
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings 
of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, sup- 
posing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself." 
How particularly and distinctly is the character of the 
modern abolitionist drawn by the apostle! 

It is easy to perceive here, that it is the intention of the 
apostle to protect the relation of master and slave, from 
the assaults of mischievous intermeddlers. How distinct 
is the apostle in all this ! if he had written to-day, he 
could not have been more explicit. Will those to whom 
the rebuke applies, be admonished by it? Most likely, 
they will not. 

Section 8. 

Fugitive slaves. — The American Union is formed by the 
confederation of several independent, sovereign nations — 
States. In the internal organizations of these States, are 
found institutions peculiar to each. Things exist in one 
which have no existence in another. This state of things 
necessarily creates a comity between the States thus 
united. This comity requires that each State should re- 
cognize and sustain the internal organization of all and of 



88 SLAVEKY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

each : without this, harmony cannot exist, and without 
harmony it is impossible to preserve union ; therefore, we 
assert, that the destruction of the comity of the States 
will result in the destruction of the union of the States. 

The union of the States is declared and maintained by 
a common Constitution. By this Constitution the individ- 
ual States have agreed to suspend the exercise of certain 
well-defined powers, for certain well-defined purposes. 
No powers but those expressly granted, (and of course, 
those that are incidental,) can be exercised by the com- 
mon government. The granted powers relate to but few 
objects of State authority, (and that from necessity ;•) 
amongst these few objects, however, is that of slavery ; 
with which the common government has but a very lim- 
ited connection. 

It does not fall within the range of our undertaking, to 
discuss the principles here stated ; that may be the duty 
of the political economist, not ours: be that as it may, the 
object we have in introducing these statements, is to show 
the extent of the connection of the common government 
with the subject now to be investigated. 

Although the African slave trade had been prohibited 
by the Congress of 1776, it was in operation at the time 
of the adoption of the common Constitution. By that in- 
strument it is declared, "The migration or importation of 
such persons as any of the States now existing shall 
think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Con- 
gress, prior to the year 1808 ; but a tax or duty may be 
imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars 
for each person." Congress, in March, 1807, passed an 
act, declaring the trade at an end on the 1st day of Jan- 
uary, 1808. 



EEGULATION OF SLAVERY. 89 

A further provision of the Constitution, is, " No person 
held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service 
or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party 
to whom such service or labor may be due." These two 
provisions of the Constitution contain all the connection 
the common government has with the institution of 
slavery (having legislated on both subjects, the powder of 
Congress is therefore exhausted). Pursuant to the last 
provision of the Constitution, Congress passed acts for the 
return to their owners, of fugitive slaves. That it is the 
duty of every good citizen to assist in the execution of 
these laws, and that none but unworthy citizens will 
oppose their execution, it is useless for us to remark. 

No constitutional laws have been more violently assailed 
and obstructed, than the fugitive-slave laws, by abolition- 
ists • they have been taught to believe that the following 
Scripture, " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the 
servant which is escaped from his master unto thee : he 
shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which 
he shall choose in one of thy gates, w^here it liketh him 
best : thou shalt not oppress him ;" authorizes, nay more, 
requires, that they should not deliver up fugitive slaves. 
A greater perversion of sacred truth, perhaps, was never 
committed. 

The twenty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, in which 
the above Scripture is found, shows that Moses was giving 
to the Israelites instructions respecting certain nations of 
people; some of whom were never to enter "the congre- 
gation of the Lord ;" that is, the Church ; others were not 
to enter the congregation until the " third generation." 



90 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

This was the punishment inflicted upon these nations for 
causes mentioned in the chapter. Now, the above Scrip- 
ture alludes to the slaves of these peoples. If a slave de- 
sired to abandon idolatry and to embrace the religion of 
the Israelites, and with this view, escaped from his master, 
then he was not to be given up, but to be protected. In 
this arrangement, we see the divine goodness manifested 
in favor of the slaves of masters, who could not them- 
selves become members of the Hebrew Church. The 
slave, who was not to blame for the idolatry of his master, 
lias a way provided for him, whereby his salvation may 
be secured. This is the obvious meaning of the text. D'r 
Clarke says: "In any other case, it would have been in- 
justice to have harbored the runaway." 

And now for the application. How is it with abolition- 
ists ; do slaves of idolatrous masters seek among them to 
embrace the true faith? Yerily, we conceive that their 
teachings are much worse than any species of idolatry ! 
"VYhen they succeed in getting a slave to escape from his 
master, is it their practice or their purpose, to place him 
under correct religious training? Nay, they abandon the 
poor fugitive, and thereby cause him, in too many in- 
stances, to renounce the religion in which he has been 
educated, and which, perhaps, he professed; thus carrying 
him back, if not to idolatry, to at least as hopeless a con- 
dition as that would be. 

The Bible regulated the subject, now under considera- 
tion, as long ago as A. M. 2093. On Abraham's first visit 
to Egypt, he procured for Sarah a maid-slave named 
Hagar. Sarah, after their return from Egypt, continuing 
childless, said to Abraham, (who was then called Abram,) 
'•Behold now. the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 91 

I pray tliee, go in unto my maid ; it may be that I may 
obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the 
voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Ilagar her 
maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in 
the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram, 
to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she con- 
ceived : and when she saw that she had conceived, her 
mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto 
Abram, My wrong be upon thee : I have given my maid 
into thy bosom ; and when she saw that she had conceived, 
I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me 
and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid 
is in thy hand ; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when 
Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. 

"And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of 
water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to 
Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence earnest 
thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee 
from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the 
Lord said unto her. Return to thy mistress^ and submit thy- 
self under her hands. 

"And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou 
art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his 
name Ishmael ; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. 
And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be against 
every man, and every man's hand against him: and he 
shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." 

This Scripture settles the facts, that Hagar was a slave; 
that she was, by her mistress, treated hardly ; that she 
ran away ; that the angel of the Lord ordered her back 
to her mistress, and commanded her to submit herself 
under her hands. These facts are stated so explicitly and 



92 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

unmislakablj, that the propriety of remarking upon them 
is, at least, questionable; and were it not that the applica-' 
tion of the case to slavery in the United States, might be 
overlooked, we certainly should be silent. 

The angel commanded Hagar to return to her mistress, 
and accompanies the command with the assurance that 
her posterity should be numerous and independent. This 
announcement received its accomplishment, literally and 
fully, as the history of the Bedouins and wandering Arabs 
testifies. 

So with the slavery of the United States. The objects 
proposed, perhaps we had better write purposed, to be ac- 
complished by it, are : 

1. The training of the slave, for his personal benefit 

and advantage. 

2. The redemption of Africa from all her woes, and 
making her an independent Christian nation. 

Now, individual slaves escaping from their owners, will 
not defeat the accomplishment of the purpose ; at most, 
it can but delay it ; but it is the removal, to some extent, 
of the agency through which the purposes are to be ac- 
complished. It is easy, therefore, to see, that persons as- 
sisting slaves to escape from their owners, or refusing to 
deliver to their owners fugitive slaves, are ''fighting 
against God." 

The duty imposed by the above Scripture, is exceed- 
ingly plain ; it is to follow the example of the angel — see 
that the fugitive returns to his master. 

But, there may be those that will not feel satisfied that 
the foregoing Scripture is sufficient to establish the fact 
for which it is adduced. Without entering into the argu- 



REGULATION OF SLAVERY. 93 

ment of the question tlius started, in favor of our position, 
we produce below Scripture that is not liable to any ob- 
jection whatever, and which is decisive of the question : — • 
SH PauVs Epistle to Philemon^ is devoted exclusively to this 
subject — it has hut the one object: the reader is referred to 
the Epistle. 

This Epistle was written A. D. 62. Some authors of 
distinction have thought it strange, that a private letter to 
a friend, on a subject not connected with the ordinary 
business of an apostle, should have been written under 
inspiration, and found its way into the Sacred Canon. It 
is part of the arrangement God has made, connected with 
the objects of slavery — when considered in this connec- 
tion, it is no matter of surprise at all. D'r Clarke deduces 
the following conclusions from the Epistle, which we adopt 
with some alterations : — ■ 

1. In a religious point of view, all genuine Christian 
converts are on a level: Onesimus, the slave, on his con- 
version, becomes the apostle's beloved son, and Philemon's 
brother. 

2. Christianity makes no change in men's civil affairs : 
even a slave does not become a freeman by Christian 
baptism — he must still serve his master. 

8. No slave should be either taken or retained from his 
master, without the master's consent. 

4. We should do good unto all men, and not be above 
helping the meanest slave when we have the opportunity. 

5. Eestitution is due where an injury has been done, 
unless the injured party freely forgive. 

6. The ministers of the Gospel should learn to know 
the worth of an immortal soul, and be as ready to use 
their talents for the conversion of slaves, as the great and 



94 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

opulent ; and prize tlie converted slave as highly as the 
converted master; showing no sinful respect of persons. 
7. Christianity properly understood, and its doctrines 
properly applied, becomes the most powerful means of the 
melioration of men ; the wicked and profligate, when 
brought under its influence, become useful members of 
society. It can transform a worthless slave into a pious, 
amiable and useful man ; and make him, not only happier 
and better in himself, but also, a blessing to others. 



CHAPTEE III. 

IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO THE UNITED STATES. 

Section 1. 

How distinctly did every feature of every phase of slav- 
ery pass in review before him, when the prophet wrote 
the following prophecy. The condition of the slave in 
Africa ; on board the transport ship ; in the hands of the 
importer, and in America, are alluded to with unmistak- 
able precision : " Thus saith the Lord, The labor of Egypt, 
and merchandise of Ethiopia^ and of the Sabeans, men of 
stature, shall come over unto thee^ and they shall he thine: 
they shall come after thee; in chains they shcdl come over, 
and they shall fall down unto thee ; they shall make sup- 
plication unto thee, saying. Surely God is in thee, and 
there is none else ; there is no GodP Commentators have 
given no special application to this prophecy. The use 
we make of it, is in no way inconsistent with what they 
say about it ; all of them speak of it cautiously. One of 
them, Lowth, says: "This seems to relate to the future 
admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God. And, 
perhaps, these particular nations may be named, by a 
metonomy common in all poetry, for powerful and wealthy 
nations in general." We here give the prophecy its 
special application and meaning, we conceive. 

African slavery in the United States is to be regarded 



96 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

as a blessing, chiefly to the slave himself. The African was 
not reduced to slavery by being brought to the United 
States — no injustice, in this respect, has been done him, 
by bringing him here — he was a slave in his own country, 
(slavery is an African not an American institution,) — sub- 
ject to a much more severe bondage there, as we have shown, 
than it is possible for him ever to experience here — it was 
a great melioration of his condition to bring him here : 
suppose he had been left in his own country, in the 
hands of his African master, who does not see, who will 
not admit that his condition would have been much 
worse than it is possible for his condition to be in his 
present situation. But when, in addition to the imme- 
diate advantages realized by the slave, in the change of 
position, we consider his further improvement, and the 
ultimate elevation of his race, we cannot fail to admit the 
great good which is to result from slavery; every heart 
touched with the least gratitude, should be thankful for 
an institution that is to produce such results. 

But when our attention is directed to the conduct of the 
importer, then it is that we may indulge a just indignation : 
the slave in his hands, was regarded merely as merchan- 
dise — " the merchandise of Ethiopia.'' Every feeling of 
humanity is outraged, in view of the cruelties practiced 
by the importer ; who always will, to the last, receive, as 
he deserves, the denunciations of the good. 

The Pope's authority to dispose of infidel nations, or 
those he was pleased to regard as such, grew out of the 
crusades. According to this doctrine, Christian princes 
"had the right to invade, ravage and seize upon the ter- 
ritories of all infidel nations, under the plea of de- 
feating the enemies of Christ, and extending the sway 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 97 

of His holy Church on earth." The infidels themselves 
were left at the disposal of their conquerers. 

In conformity with the established doctrine, John I., of 
Portugal, invaded Northern Africa and established his 
standard at Cueta. Here his enterprising son, Henry, con- 
ceived the idea of passing to India by circumnavigating 
Africa. This idea was a long time maturing ; its practical 
demonstration, however, was at length entered upon. The 
first attempts resulted in the exploration of the western 
coasts of Africa, as far south as Cape de Yerde and Azore 
Islands. Without accomplishing his undertaking, Henry 
died in 1473 : his death delayed this enterprise until 
1487, when Vasco de Gama, a veteran navigator in the 
employment of the Portuguese government, doubled the 
Cape of Good Hope. Thus was the door of the African 
slave-trade thrown open, into which the nations and peo- 
ples of Christendom impetuously rushed. 

As we are about to enter upon some general details of 
this trade, it may not be out of place here, to state the 
recognized divisions into which the peoples of Africa are 
thrown. There are seven ascertainable varieties, to wit : 
l.^'^Hottentot. 2. Kaffir. 8. Abyssinian. 4. Egyptian. 
5. Numidian. 6. Nubian. 7. Negro. The Negro, 
(Cushite,) who retains his physical identity in all climates 
and under all circumstances, is found scattered amongst 
all the other varieties — a slave. 

Section 2. 

Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. The 

first permanent settlement attempted, as is well known, 

was on the island of S't Domingo. In 1497, a dangerous 

conspiracy, headed by Francisco Eoldan, broke out on the 

5 



98 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

island, which continued for two years, when it was adjust- 
ed by Columbus assigning lands and Indian slaves to the 
conspirators. This arrangement resulted, says Irving, in. 
the " repartimientos, or distribution of free Indians among 
the colonists, afterwards generally adopted and shamefully 
abused, throughout the Spanish colonies." Attempts 
have been made to relieve the course pursued by Colum- 
bus of its injustice, by assimilating it to the feudal system 
of Europe, the Indians being the slaves of the system. 
It must be said, and this affords the best apology for 
Columbus, in justice to the admiral, that the scheme did 
not originate with him, and that he yielded to it with re- 
luctance almost amounting to compulsion. This arrange- 
ment stipulated that the Indian chiefs, called caciques, 
should furnish each Spaniard with a certain number of 
people, for the purpose of cultivating their grounds: the 
terms were soon applied to working in mines. Again 
does justice to Columbus require it to be stated, that this 
was done under the administration of Bobadilla. Ovan- 
do, who superseded Bobadilla in the government of the 
island, extended this measure to the utmost limit of cru- 
elty. Some idea of the sufferings of the Indians, by the 
oppressions inflicted upon them, may be derived from the 
statement, that in less time than twelve years from the 
settlement of the Island, " several hundred thousand of 
its native inhabitants had perished ; miserable victims to 
the grasping avarice of white men," calling themselves 
Christians ! 

Ovando was sent out in 1502. The instructions under 
which he was to act, drawn up the year before, show 
great solicitude on the part of the sovereigns, particularly 
of Isabella, whose benevolent heart was always full of 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. <j9 

sympathy for the oppressed, in favor of the Indians. Al- 
luding to these instructions, Irving says : " But while the 
sovereigns were making regulations for the relief of the 
Indians; with that inconsistency frequent in human judg- 
ment, they encouraged a gross invasion of the rights and 
welfare of another race of human beings. Among their 
various decrees, on the occasion, we find the first trace of 
negro slavery in the New World. It was permitted to 
carry to the colonies, negro slaves born among Christians ; 
that is to say, slaves born in Seville and other parts of 
Spain ; the children and descendants of natives brought 
from the Atlantic coast of Africa, with which a traSic of 
the kind had for some time been carried on, by the Span- 
iards and Portuguese." The license given was so eagerly 
seized upon, that in 1503, only tv^o years after its grant, 
the merciless Ovando requested that the number of Ne- 
groes on the island might not be increased by importation. 
Thus was negro slavery introduced into the New 
World : the following facts will show how it advanced at 
this time. We are indebted to Irving for dates and 
other facts. In 1510, king Ferdinand ordered African 
slaves to be employed in the mines, (the mines having be- 
come attached to the crown ; previously they had been 
the property of private persons, and Negroes had been 
employed in them.) In 1511, the king ordered that a 
great number of slaves should be procured from Guinea, 
and carried to the island. In 1512 and '13, he repeated 
his orders. In 1516, Charles Y., successor of Ferdinand, 
granted licenses to the Flemings, to import Negroes into 
the colonies. This license was received with eagerness 
by those in whose favor it was made, and an extensive 
importation ensued. 



100 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

There is a singular fact cormected witli the good Las 
Casas, missionary to the Indians on S^t Domingo, which 
we here notice. His sensibilities were easily moved in 
favor of the Indians — no efforts were left untried on his 
part to serve them — but he had no sympathies for the 
Negroes. He participated in the popular opinions, that 
one Negro could perform without inconvenience to him- 
self, the labor of four Indians — that the Africans were not 
affected by their transportation to the New World — that 
they were slaves in their own country — that they thrived 
in the New World as well, if not better, than they did in 
Guinea — that slavery was the natural condition of the 
African ! We cannot but perceive and admire the work- 
ings of Providence in all this. 

Section 3. 

The other nations of Europe were decidedly against re- 
garding the claim of Spain to the territory of the New 
World, as conclusive ; either on the ground of her having 
led the way to it, or of the Pope's grant. They contended 
that Spain had no right to any other territory than that 
actually visited by her fleets, or occupied by her people. 
As respects territory falling within the limits of the United 
States, this assumption confined Spain to the Floridas, 
and even that she was not allowed, very quietly, to re- 
tain. 

In 1496, John Cabot and his son Sebastian, by private 
enterprise, but with the approbation, and under the aus- 
pices of the English Government, sailed on a voyage of 
discovery. In 1497, they discovered the American con- 
tinent, in the latitude of fifty-six degrees, as is supposed — 
thence they returned to England. 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 10 i 

In 1498, Sebastian Cabot readied the continent in the 
latitude of fifty-eight degrees. He then turned south, 
and proceeded along the coast to a point near the south- 
ern boundary of Maryland: thence he returned to Eng- 
land. The proceedings of the Cabots, formed the claim 
that England set up to the northern Atlantic portion of 
the United States. A claim which, perhaps, she was 
more successful in maintaining, than just in proposing. 

It was not until 1504, that France entered into the 
business of discovery in the New World. However, tlie 
Newfoundland fisheries soon rewarded her enterprise. 
The Gulf of S't Lawrence was examined, and some fur- 
ther discoveries were made on the coast. Francis L, then 
occupying the throne of France, encouraged the coloniza- 
tion of the newly- discovered territories. The French, 
under the lead of their priests, soon found their way up 
the river S't Lawrence, to the Lakes ; from the Lakes 
across to the Mississippi, and down that river to the Gulf 
of Mexico : forming military and trading posts at short 
distances from each other; thus they girded inland the 
English and Spanish discoveries. 

In 1524, Yerrazani, a Florentine, in the service of 
France, passed along much of the American coast which 
had been traversed by the- Cabots ; as far south as Wil- 
mington, in North Carolina, perhaps as far, in that direc- 
tion, as Tybee, in Georgia. A dispute arose between 
England and France, relative to the right of each, respect- 
ing the discoveries : this dispute was finally adjusted by 
the treaty of Utrecht; France relinquishing to England 
her claim. 

In 1609, Hudson, in the employment of the Dutch 
East India Company, sailed in search of the north-western 



102 SLAVERY m THE UNITED STATES. 

passage. Becoming impeded bj ice, lie turned down the 
American coast, and on the third day of September, an- 
chored within Sandy Hook. After a short delay, he 
passed through the Narrows and anchored in the beauti- 
ful Bay at the mouth of the North Eiver. He proceeded 
up the river to a point above the city of Hudson, and dis- 
patched a boat which ascended the river above Albany. 
The region thus explored, took the name of New Nether- 
lands. The interests involved were transferred by the 
East to the Dutch West India Company. A dispute 
arose between England and the Dutch about New Neth- 
erlands, which, of course, was settled in favor of England. 
When was England known to relinquish a claim to terri- 
tory, however unwarrantable the pretext upon which it 
was founded? The transfer of New Netherlands, placed 
in the hands of England the entire territory composing 
the old thirteen States. 

Section 4. 

Properly to understand the heinousness of the crimes 
of those who engaged in the importation of Africans into 
the New World, it must be borne in mind that there 
were two classes in Africa, to wit, master and slave : 
this distinction the importers were unwilling to allow ; 
they wished to regard all alike — master and slave, as free 
game. As an illustration of this, we produce the follow- 
ing statement: a titled subject of Great Britain, Sir John 
Hawkins, who engaged in the importation, at an early 
period, says, his manner of proceeding was to fire the 
towns and seize the inhabitants as they were attempting 
to escape the flames. At one town, containing eight 
thousand inhabitants, he succeeded in capturing two 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 103 

hundred and fifty persons, whom he sold as slaves. The 
triumphant manner in which Hawkins relates the success 
of his mode of proceeding, and such conduct passing with- 
out censure or rebuke from any quarter, manifests the 
depravity of the times. 

This Hawkins, in 1562, brought a cargo of Africans to 
S't Domingo, and either bartered them for, or bought with 
their purchase-price, the rich products of the island, which 
were of great value in England. This excited both the 
attention and the cupidity of Queen Elizabeth, who im- 
mediately engaged in the business as a co-adventurer. 
But Hawkins alone is not to be held up as the only kid- 
napper ; the other traders pursued similar plans for their 
supply of slaves : the only difference is this. Sir John 
very imprudently boasted of his deeds ; others very pru- 
dently concealed theirs. So, it is the duty of impartial 
history to state the facts. 

The African slave-trade continued, principally, to be 
an object of private enterprise until 1713, when, by the 
treaty of Utrecht, it became systematized in the hands of 
England. By this treaty "Her Britannic Majesty did offer 
and undertake, by persons whom she shall appoint, to 
bring into the West Indies of America, belonging to His 
Catholic Majesty, in the space of thirty years, OXE 
HUNDEED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND NE- 
GROES, at the rate of four thousand eight hundred, in 
each of the said thirty years." Her Britannic Majesty 
might import as many more as she thought proper, or her 
means would allow, but she was not to fall below the 
stipulated number. No Frenchman, nor Spaniard, nor 
any one else, might import into the Spanish- American 
dependencies, one Negro. Her Britannic Majesty took 



104 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

good care also, to protect her own American possessions 
from the intrusion of other slave-traders. Thus the Af- 
rican slave-trade in America became a royal monopoly. 
Queen Anne boasted, in her speech to Parliament, of the 
success of "her plan, in thus obtaining for English sub- 
jects a new slave-market in the Spanish West Indies." 
The Queen admitted, as a co-partner in this business, (for 
what equivalent is not stated,) Philip V., of Spain, who 
took one-fourth of the common stock : she reserved to 
herself one-fourth, and permitted her subjects to divide 
the remaining half among themselves. Here we have the 
record of the strange fact, that the Queen of England 
bargained to the King of Spain, the right to impart Ne- 
groes into his own colonies ! 

Section 5. 

The transport-ship, called Guineaman, was generally 
some old East India, or whaling ship, whose capacious 
depth of hold was fitted up with slave-decks, upon which 
were arranged, in regular order, cargoes consisting of from 
five to eight hundred, or a thousand or more, slaves: they 
were conveyed in canoes from the shore to the ship, 
where they were reduced to a state of nudity ; except in 
some instances, when a slight covering was placed about 
the loins : their heads were closely shaved — they were 
organized into messes of from ten to fifteen individuals; 
after eating, a bucket of salt-water was furnished each 
mess, for the purpose of washing hands — a guard was 
placed over each mess, at meal-time, for the purpose of 
detecting those who refused to eat, for they often resolved 
on starvation; when this was observed, the "cat" gener- 
ally brought the refractory to a proper course : their al- 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 105 

lowance of water was generally about a quart in twenty- 
four hours : as often as three times a week their mouths 
were rinsed with vinegar, and a small quantity of rum was 
allowed each slave, every morning : the sexes were inva- 
riably kept apart, during the voyage : the men were 
shaved, without soap, once a week. These precautions, 
and many others, were deemed necessary to the health of 
the slaves, during the passage: notwithstanding, conta- 
gious disorders would frequently break out among them, 
by which cargoes have been reduced one-half, sometimes 
more. In such cases, a fatal dose would be administered 
to those first attacked, in order that by their removal, the 
others might be preserved ! This was done under the plea 
of necessity and humanity ! 

[The contraband trade has brought into use a descrip- 
tion of craft called clipper. These vessels vary from forty 
to one hundred and fifty tons, and are, generally, of 
schooner rig. They proceed to Africa, and hover about 
the coast until an opportunity occurs, when they slip into 
some river, or creek, and become concealed among the 
trees which grow upon its margin. Here, from some 
neighboring barracoon, they procure their cargoes. It is 
almost impossible to conceive how one of these vessels 
of only one hundred tons, can stow away three hundred 
and fifty slaves ; means, however, are found to do it. They 
compel them to lie down in each other's laps ; between 
decks affording but twenty-two inches space I We have 
the recorded instance, of seven hundred and forty-nine 
slaves being packed in the hold of a vessel of one hundred 
and sixty-five tons ! This appears to be almost incredible. 

Captain Bell, of the United States' Navy, in 1840, writes : 
"From the best information that could be obtained, there 
5# 



106 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

are now, and have been for several years passed, shipped 
from Africa upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand 
slaves per annum. This appears incredible to those who 
have not examined into the subject; but when it is con- 
sidered that sixty-two vessels, carrying, or prepared to 
carry, upon an average, three hundred each, were sent 
into Sierra Leone last year, in addition to those sent to 
the Cape of Good Hope, and captured in the West Indies, 
and on the coast of Brazil ; and that not more than one in 
six is captured, as I was credibly informed, it will be found 
to fall within the above estimate. In consequence of the 
chance of capture, the poor Negroes suffer ten-fold more 
misery than in the early stages of the traffic ; they crowd 
them in small, fast-sailing vessels, at the rate of two, and 
sometimes even four to the ton, with a slave-deck but 
two feet two inches high ; as was the case with a slaver 
lately sent into Sierra Leone. So dreadful is their situa- 
tion, that one in ten dies in crossing the ocean ; conse- 
quently, twenty-five thousand human beings are thus 
destroyed in a year! " 

It is a matter of some importance to know how, if so 
many slaves are lost in their transportation, the persons 
engaged in this business realize any profit from it ; the 
case is susceptible of easy explanation : the average price 
of slaves at the barracoon, is forty dollars, in goods ; the 
average price on Cuba, is four hundred dollars, in cash. 
This statement, also, enables us to perceive how it is, that 
men continue to hazard the risks connected with the illicit 
traffic — the probable profit forms the inducement] 



IMPORTATION OF .SLAVES. 107 



Sectioii 6. 



Of the stowing away of the slaves, in the Guincaman, 
Foote says: "The slaves were obliged to lie on their 
backs, and were shackled by their ankles ; the left one 
being fettered close to the right of the next ; so that the 
whole number in one line, formed a single, living chain. 
When one died, the body remained, during the night, or 
during bad weather, secured to the two between whom he 
was. The height between decks was so little, that a man 
of ordinary size could hardly sit upright. During good 
weather, a gang of slaves was taken on the spar-deck, and 
there remained for a short time. In bad weather, when 
the hatches were closed, death from suffocation would 
necessarily occur. It can, therefore, be easily understood, 
that the athletic strangled the weaker intentionally, in 
order to procure more space ; and that, when striving to 
get near some aperture affording air to breathe, many 
would be injured, or killed, in the struggle." 

In 1792, the British House of Commons collected some 
evidence relative to the enormities of the slave-trade; 
from this collection Foote makes the following extracts : 
James Morley, gunner of the Medway, states, " He has 
seen them under great difficulty of breathing ; the women, 
particularly, often got upon the beams, where the gratings 
are often raised with banisters, about four feet above the 
combings, to give air, but they are generally driven down, 
because they take the air from the rest. He had known 
rice held in the mouths of sea-sick slaves, until they were 
almost strangled. He has seen the surgeon's mate force 
the panniken between their teeth, and throw the medicine 
over them, so that not half of it went into their mouths— 



108 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the poor wretches wallowing in their blood, hardly having 
life, and this with blows of the cat." 

D'r Thomas Trotter, surgeon of the Brooks, says, "He 
has seen the slaves drawing their breath with all those 
laborious and anxious efforts for life which are observed 
in expiring animals, subjected by experiment to foul 
air, or in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. Has 
also seen them when the tarpaulins have inadvertently 
been thrown over the gratings, attempting to heave them 
up, crying out, 'kickeraboo! kickeraboo!' i. e., we are 
dying ! On removing the tarpaulin and gratings, they 
would fly to the hatchways, with all the signs of terror and 
dread of suffocation. Many whom he has seen in a dying 
state, have recovered by being brought on the deck : 
others were irrecoverably lost by suffocation, having had 
no previous signs of indisposition." 

With regard to the Garland's voyage, (a slaver, in 
1788,) the testimony is, "Some of the diseased were 
obliged to be kept on deck. The slaves, both when ill 
and well, were frequently forced to eat against their in- 
clinations; were whipped with a cat, if they refused. The 
parts on which their shackles are fastened, are often exco- 
riated by the violent exercise they are forced to take, and 
of this they made many grievous complaints to him, (de- 
ponent.) Fell in with the Hero, Wilson, which had lost, 
deponent thinks, three hundred and sixty slaves, by death ; 
he is certain, more than half her cargo; learnt this from 
the surgeon ; they had died mostly of the small-pox. 
Surgeon also told him, that when removed from one place 
to another, they left marks of their skin and blood upon 
the deck, and that it was the most horrid sight he had ever 
seen." These statements bring us in view of some of the 



IMPOKTATION OF SLAVES. 109 

horrors of the "middle passage ;" an expression of darkest 
portent. 

It is no matter of surprise that the sailor, (disposed to 
be superstitious,) in the silence of nightly vigils, imagines, 
as he navigates the dark waters of Afric's coast, that he 
sees on each wave-top the troubled ghost of some child 
of oppression. No wonder, that when the storm presses 
hard upon his bark, he sees the phantom slave-ship as she 
scuds by, and hears from her captives the shrieks of 
despair. ISTo marvel, when he knows that on the bottom 
beneath him, in confusion, lie countless heaps of the skele- 
tons of the victims of cruelty, he breathes hard and 
anxiously ; and no wonder that his anxiety is relieved, 
and his breathing freer, when he passes the precincts of 
the haunted district. 

Section 7. 

There are no sources of information in which implicit 
confidence can be placed, whereby it may be ascertained 
how many African slaves were imported into the New 
World ; that fact must ever remain unascertained : con- 
jectures will continue to be made, but history never will 
record the undisputed fact. Bancroft says : "Kaynal con- 
siders the number of ISTegroes exported by all European 
nations from Africa before 1776, to have been NIXE 
MILLIONS ; and the considerate German historian of 
the slave-trade, Albert Hiine, deems his statement too 
small." 

After assigning his reasons for his opinion, Bancroft 
says: "We shall not err very much, if, for the century 
previous to the prohibition of the slave-trade by the 
American Congress, in 1776, we assume the number im- 



110 SLAVERY IN" THE UNITED STATES. 

ported by the English, into the Spanish, French and Eng- 
lish West Indies, as well as the Enghsh continental colo- 
nies, to have been collectively nearly THEEE MILL- 
IONS ; to which are to be added more than a quarter 
of a million purchased in Africa, and thrown into the 
Atlantic, on the passage." 

There are some other facts belonging to this connection 
which do not partake of the uncertainty of which we had 
to speak in the above paragraph. We allude to the 
American importers : their names, residences, and the ex- 
tent to which they were engaged in this business, may be 
ascertained with exactness ; nothing is required for the 
purpose of making these developments but a little patient 
research. And it is possible, nay more, it is probable, it 
will be ascertained that some of our northern fellow-citi- 
zens, who at this day are loudest and longest in their de- 
nunciations of slavery and slave-holders, are the descend- 
ants of importers, inheriting, if not always their names, at 
least the fortunes they acquired in this business. Eeally, 
we do not see how the progeny could be other than it is, 
when the ancestry was of such a type. 

The slave-trade in the New World extended over 
a period of three hundred and seven years ; that is to say, 
from the year 1501, when it commenced by the importa- 
tion of Negro slaves into S't Domingo, to the year 1808, 
when it was finally closed by the Federal Constitution. 
From this period, however, must be deducted the short 
time that the trade was suspended by the Congress of 
1776. 

England was engaged in the trade two hundred and 
forty-six years ; that is to say, from the year 1562, when 
Elizabeth became the co-partner of Hawkins, to the year 



IMPOETATION OF SLAVES. Hi 

1808. This period includes the reigns of Elizabeth, of 
James L, of Charles I., the period of the Commonwealth 
or Cromwell's administration, of Charles IL, of James 
IL, of William III, of Anne, of George I, of George 
IL, and of George III. England amassed large sums 
from the slave-trade. Bancroft asserts that " she gained 
bv the sale of the children of Africa into bondage in 
America, the capital which built up and confirmed the 
British empire in Hindostan." 

There is no subject purely human connected with the 
world's history, that presents to the mind such an amount 
of unmitigated horror as attaches to the importers of 
African slaves. The excesses committed by them out- 
rage every principle of humanity, every feeling of benevo- 
lence. This, no doubt, accounts for the fact, that the 
historians of England pass over the subject with but im- 
perfect allusions to it. This will not do ; it is not fair. 
A source from which the government derived such large 
revenues for so long a time, requires that its minutice 
should be written without regard to the injustice con- 
nected with it. The chapter (the blackest in England's 
history) that is to relate these horrible details, remains to 
be written ; to the writer of that chapter we commend a 
paragraph written by M'r Jefferson, to be found in Tucker. 
This paragraph was in the draft of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, presented by that wise statesman to the con- 
vention of 1776, and by the convention stricken out, 
because they supposed the language used too strong at 
that time : " He — the king — has waged cruel war against 
human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of 
life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who 
never offended him, captivating and carrying them into 



112 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death 
in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, 
the opprobrium of infidel nations, is the warfare of the 
Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep 
open a market where men should be bought and sold, he 
had prostituted his negative for suppressing every legisla- 
tive attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable 
commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might 
want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting 
those very people to rise in arms among us, and to pur- 
chase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by 
murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; 
thus paying off former crimes committed against the liber- 
ties of one people with crimes which he urges them to 
commit against the lives of another." Without this para- 
graph, or the substance of it, that chapter will be incom- 
plete. 

Section 8. 

While European nations and monarchs were princi- 
pally engaged in the importation of African slaves into 
the New World, it is proper to remark, that the peoples 
of the American Colonies, afterwards States, more par- 
ticularly those of the Middle and New England States, 
became largely involved in it before it was prohibited by 
law. And so lucrative has this trade ever been, that at 
this day, after it has been abolished nearly half a century, 
instances are frequent of vessels owned in the northern 
section of the Union, engaging in it. It is in vain that 
the United States, France and England, maintain strong 
naval forces on the African coasts ; the traders find means 
to elude them, and cargoes of slaves continue to be 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 113 

landed in ports contiguous to the United States. The 
uncontradicted statement is, that during the past twelve 
months [1855-'56], twenty-one vessels, that is to say, 
six barks, two brigs, and thirteen schooners, engaged in 
the African slave-trade, belong to the port of New York, 
besides others which belong to Philadelphia and Bos- 
ton. 

It is impossible to ascertain with mathematical cer- 
tainty how many African slaves were imported into the 
American colonies by the parties engaged in their im- 
portation, but it is supposed by those who have under- 
taken the ascertainment of the fact, that in 1776, when 
all the colonies possessed slaves, the number was OVER 
THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND. Some writers go 
largely over this estimate, which is the lowest. 

It is asserted that the first foot -prints made by a negro 
slave on that part of the American continent falling 
within the Union, were made in Virginia soil, in August, 
1620. Then a Dutch ship (some sa}^ a man-of-war; if so, 
a public ship) entered James River, having on board 
twenty African slaves for sale. 

Bancroft states that the guilt of "first participating 
in the slave-trade," was brought upon the American colo- 
nies by "one Thomas Keyser and one James Smith," 
who in 1645 fitted out their ship in Boston, " and sailed 
for Guinea, to trade for Negroes." „[Why not say, "that 
the first American Colony which engaged in the importa- 
tion of African slaves, was Massachusetts " ? The truth 
would have been much better told. Some of the colonies, 
at the time mentioned, had no existence ; and amongst 
those that did exist, there was no political connection 
whatever. Each colony must be held accountable for its 



Ill SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

own acts then, as eacli State must be held accountable for 
its own acts now. The form of expression adopted by 
Bancroft involves all the colonies in conduct for which 
Massachusetts alone is accountable.] He says, "But 
throughout Massachusetts the cry of justice was raised 
against them, as malefactors and murderers. Eichard 
Saltonstall, a worthy assistant, felt himself moved by his 
duty as a magistrate, to denounce the act of stealing 
Negroes, as ' expressly contrary to the law of God, and the 
law of the country.' The guilty men were committed for 
the offence, and, after advice with the elders, the repre- 
sentatives of the people, bearing ' witness against the 
heinous crime of man-stealing,' ordered the Negroes to be 
restored, at the public charge, ' to their native country, 
with a letter [to whom was this letter written?] expressing 
the indignation of the general court' at their wrongs." 
We have high regard for Massachusetts ; the patriotism 
and public spirit of her citizens are not to be questioned, 
and we appreciate fully the motive of Bancroft ; it is in 
every sense praiseworthy. What a pity it was, however, 
that Massachusetts bestowed such an amount of sym- 
pathy upon Negroes, that when afterwards her own citi- 
zens [Quakers and witches], stood in need of it, it was 
all gone! It is so now. It is said, that at this time 
there are not many Quakers in Massachusetts, fewer 
witches, and plenty of abolitionists. Happy State ! 

The African slave-trade possessed this sensible distinc- 
tion, legitimate and illegitimate, or legal and illegal. The 
legitimate trade allowed the purchase of slaves for what 
their African owner was pleased to regard as a fair price. 
The illegitimate trade consisted in the kidnapping [steal- 
ing, as the Massachusetts authorities very correctly termed 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 115 

it] of any and all, without regard to condition. Thi.s in- 
volved both master and slave. The illegitimate trade, for 
obvious reasons, was generally preferred and engaged in 
by the importers. Whenever it could be, it was practiced. 
Now, it was the illegitimate trade which the good people 
of Massachusetts condemned, and which the authorities 
proceeded to punish. The statement of facts made by 
Bancroft, does not warrant the conclusion, that had Key- 
ser and Smith been engaged in the legitimate trade, their 
enterprise would have been interrupted. It was the 
" man-stealing " that very properly excited the indigna- 
tion of the people. 

Section 9. 

The abstract question of slavery was never submitted 
to the peoples of the American Colonies. The institution 
was forced upon them by England principally, France, 
Holland and Spain ; therefore, the discussion of the ques- 
tion at this time is improper, for it could produce no re- 
sult whatever. All the interest the people of the south 
have in slavery, is to ascertain how to manage it. 

The year 1620 may be properly regarded as the period 
that opened the African slave-trade in the colonies. It 
became so rapid that the colonies were alarmed, and pro- 
ceeded to arrest it if they might. Virginia passed twenty- 
three acts in endeavoring to accomplish this object ; and 
so long as the importation was confined to the Dutch, she 
succeeded in keeping the numbers below what she con- 
ceived to be the point of security; but when England 
undertook the business Virginia was obliged to yield. 
M'r Madison, referring to this subject, said, "The British 
government constantly checked the attempts of Virginia 



116 SLAVERY m THE UNITED STATES. 

to put a stop to this infernal traffic." Stevens says, " South 
Carolina soon passed a law prohibiting their further im- 
portation. It was rejected by the king in council, who 
declared the trade ' beneficial and necessary to the mother- 
country.' Massachusetts, the first State in America 
which directly participated in the slave-trade, and that, 
too, through a member of one of the Boston churches, 
earnestly rebuked the traffic, imposed duties upon 
Negroes imported, and aimed at other efforts." All this, 
however, was frustrated by the royal governor, Hutchin- 
son, who pleaded his instructions against it. Stevens 
continues: "The royal orders to Governor Went worth 
directed him not to give his assent to or pass any law 
imposing duties on Negroes imported into New Hamp- 
shire." Without referring farther to the independent 
action of each colony, their opposition to the importation 
may be summed up in the words of Bancroft: '* The 
English continental colonies, in the aggregate, were always 
opposed to the African slave-trade." The importation 
continued, however, until the Continental Congress in 
1776, in accordance with the popular opinion, put a stop 
to it by enacting, " that no slaves be imported into any of 
the thirteen United Colonies." Th€7i was British policy 
7^ehuJcedj and British -power defied. 

The trade was resumed after this, and was not to be finally 
closed till 1808 — the time limited by the Federal Constitu- 
tion. During this period, several of the States, Northern 
and Southern, engaged in the business of importation, 
which continued up to the time for its final termination. 
Georgia, in May, 1798 (ten years before the trade could 
be arrested by Congress), enacted, among her fundamental 
laws: ''There shall be no future importation of slaves 



IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. 117 

into tbis State from Africa, or any foreign place, after the 
first day of October next." This, perhaps, is the earliest 
instance of any one of the thirteen States incorporating in 
its constitution its determination not to allow the importa- 
tion to be longer continued within its jurisdiction. And 
it is probable that since the trade has become contraband, 
fewer successful efforts have been made to introduce 
Africans into Georgia than any other slave-holding State. 
Georgia was the last of the thireen colonies to adopt 
African slavery. The colony was settled in 1733. In 
it slavery was prohibited by law until 1749-'o0. Thus, it 
is seen that Georgia was not only the last colony to adopt 
the institution, but the first, perhaps, to arrest the abuses 
connected witli it. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

LAWS OF THE STATES — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH, &C. 

Remarks, 

The object of this chapter is to present a brief abstract 
of the laws of the States in which slavery exists, in so far 
as concerns the life and personal security of the slave, and 
the results, as well as they could be ascertained, of the 
efforts of the church in favor of the Negro, both in the 
United States and in Africa. This exhibit, although not 
as full in some of its statements as we could wish, never- 
theless challenges the admiration of every philanthropist, 
and cannot but receive, as it should, the approbation of 
the humane and enlightened everywhere, and of all 
countries. 

Situated as the Negro was in his native country, and in 
the hands of the importer, we behold a human being, than 
whom no one stood more in need of a friend, and at the 
same time no one was so destitute of a friend. It is 
said that the darkest hour of the night is the one that im- 
mediately precedes the light of day. In the case of the 
Negro this was no figure of speech. With him it was a 
solemn reality ; for his hard lot felt its greatest pressure 
while he was on board the transport-ship. The moment 
his foot made an impression in American soil, his fortune 
turned — the melioration of his condition commenced. As 
soon as he passed into the hands of his permanent owner, 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 119 

he found a friend, a father, who instantly commenced the 
healing of his wounds. From that day to this, his con- 
dition has continued steadily to improve; and we remark', 
that there has been no period in his history when greater 
and more successful efforts were being made for him than 
those of the present time. 

There never was a human being whose character and 
circumstances (respecting what they formerly were, and 
what they now are), presents so strong a contrast as is 
observable in the case of the American slave. He was 
brought to us a naked, ignorant heathen — a savage — but 
one short remove from the brute: now " he is clothed and 
in his right mind." He is a Christian by education, often 
by profession. AYere it not that he has been with us 
from the beginning, he never could be recognized as the 
descendant of African ancestors. There is nothino- to 
awaken surprise in all this, however, when it is remem. 
bered that the State, the Church, the master and his 
family, have been laboriously engaged in working out 
these results. 

We do not pretend to say that there are no incon- 
veniences, irregularities, perhaps improprieties connected 
with the slavery of the South. That such things exist, 
we readily allow. What institution is without them ? 
Even the Church has its hypocrites, who, in these days of 
abolitionism, are vastly multiplied. But, we assert, with 
all the firmness of truth, that these things have been 
largely exaggerated by the designing ; that they have 
been greatly reduced from their original magnitude ; and 
that the people of the South are now engaged doing 
everything that can be done for the purpose of correcting 
these irregularities altogether. Amendments in the 
practical workings of the institution are being constantly 



120 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

and extensively made ; and these efforts would have been 
much more rapid and effective, had the people of the 
South been let alone in the management of the institution. 
But they have been balked and embarrassed by those 
"bus}^ bodies in other men's matters," the slave's worst 
enemies, the treacherous, traitorous abolitionists. 

Webster defines the term slave thus: "A person who 
is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has 
no freedom of action, but whose person and services 
are wholly under the control of another." This 
defination has its shades of meaning distinctly reflected in 
what a very distinguished English author says : " Pure 
and proper slavery does not, nay, cannot subsist in Eng- 
land ; such, I mean, whereby an absolute and unlimited 
power is given to the master, over the life and fortune of 
the slave." [Blackstone could not have said so much re- 
specting the British dependencies — to wit, the West 
Indies.] The kind of slavery here spoken of is the kind 
of slavery that now subsists in Africa. It is the kind of 
slavery that subsisted while the slave was in the hands of 
the importer, who regarded him as an article of merchan- 
dise simply ; hut it is not the slavery of the United States. 
Such slavery does not now^ never did, and never can^ subsist 
with us. 

It is necessary to pure and proper slavery that the 
master should have absolute and unlimited power over the 
life of the slave. This power has never been allowed in 
the United States. The security of the life of the slave 
has not been trusted to the interests of the master, nor to 
his humanity. The law takes the life (and, as will be seen 
from the following extracts, much besides that relates to 
the slave's well-being) under its own protection. That it 
trusts to no man ; there let it remain. 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CIIUllCII. 121 

But we may be asked, What is the condition of tlie 
Negro in the Southern States, if it be not slavery in the 
highest sense of the term ? We reply, It is a peculiar 
condition of servitude, regulated by law, having no paral- 
lel in profane history, instituted of God, for the education 
and training of the African here, for his personal enjoy- 
ment of civil and religious liberty, compatible with his 
condition ; and for the other purpose of constituting him 
an agent, through whom his native country is to be re- 
deemed from its deep degradation. Who objects to this? 

The law abhors cruelty and punishes indiscriminately, 
all who are guilty of it. It will be perceived upon re- 
flection, that the law trusts the master with no more 
power over his slave, than it trusts to a master over his 
apprentice, or to a father over bis child. If it becomes 
necessary to use power beyond this, the law reserves to 
itself the exercise of that power. If punishment, beyond 
moderate correction, (which does not involve the loss of 
life or limb, or extend to the mutilation of the person,) 
must be inflicted, the law inflicts it. 

But, it may be said that there are hard masters, who 
abuse the power intrusted to them by law ; that there 
sometimes occur excesses amongst slave-holders : we have 
no concealments on this subject, w^e allow that there are 
occurrences of the kind alluded to ; but we affirm that 
these occurrences rarely arise from wantonness. It must 
be remembered, that we have to control a race of human 
beings who are under the influence of the most depraved 
and vicious propensities that ever marked the character 
of the debased : individuals of which race seem to be in- 
capable of redemption, either by kindness or severity. 

In view of the law, the efforts of the Church, and the 
6 



122 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

humanity of masters generally, if not universally, we 
assert, that the slavery of the South is an anomaly ; that 
is to say, it is without a parallel in the history of human 
slavery : therefore, to pass a correct judgment on the sub- 
ject, requires the knowledge of it, in all its parts and par- 
ticulars : a knowledge which few, if any out of the South, 
possess ; and for the want of which, many of our north- 
ern fellow-citizens have proceeded to condemn the insti- 
tution. 

It is not our intention here to do more than show, that 
in each State the law recognizes no difference, in its so- 
licitude for human life, between the free white citizen 
and the Negro slave : (that is to say, the law regards the 
taking the life of the one, as highly criminal as the taking 
the life of the other.) We shall do no more than this, for 
the reason, that each State has adopted a system of its 
own ; to insert the entire system, or an abridgment of it, 
of each State, would unnecessarily incumber the subject. 
The various systems of the States result in the establish- 
ment of general principles. 

We deem it proper, however, here to remark, that in 
all cases below those affecting life or limb, the proceed- 
ings are had before justices of the peace. These officers 
issue warrants for the arrest of the accused ; subpoena 
witnesses for and against him ; and if, after a fair and im- 
partial investigation, if appears that the accused is guilty, 
they are authorized to proceed to order the infliction of 
corporal punishment. 

It will be admitted by all who are acquainted with the 
history of British emancipation, that Wilberforce was the 
most conspicuous person connected with it, and that his 
untiring efiforts did more than those of any one else ; per? 



STATE LAWS— OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 123 

haps more than all the others engaged, in consummat- 
ing that object. It would be easy to show how the Brit- 
ish importers of African slaves, in and out of Parliament, 
thwarted and embarrassed his movements from 1788 to 
the year 1808, when, by the Constitution of the United 
States, the business was rendered profitless ; but that is 
not our object. We introduce here the name of Wilber- 
force, for the purpose of presenting the following brief 
but very significant quotation ; he says, "Under the pro- 
tection of the law, is in fact to be a freeman." The sys- 
tem of slavery against which Wilberforce struggled, 
afforded no legal protection to slaves. Such is not the 
system of the South. 

But ample as the laws are for the protection of the 
slave, (servant is the proper word,) he finds great security 
in public opinion : this is always active ; alwaj'S on the 
side of the people; always does the slave justice, and 
always forbids cruelty. Let the reader collect in his 
mind the vast security thrown around the slave by the 
State, the Church, the master's interest and public opin- 
ion, and then condemn the slavery of the South, if he 
will ; we are content. 

In each of the slave-holding States, the laws for the 
trial of the question of freedom are so ample and easy, 
that it is impossible to hold a free Negro in slavery, in 
either of them. This is an occurrence but seldom heard 
of, because the laws, in this respect, are but seldom vio- 
lated. 



124 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Section 1. 
DELAWARE. 

''Any two justices of the peace for the count}^, shall 
have jurisdiction to try and punish any slave, for the 
offence of stealing, taking and carrying away, any goods, 
chattels, effects, bank-note, money, bill, promissory note, 
check, order, bond or written contract for the payment of 
money, or delivery of goods, or of receiving, or conceal- 
ing, any such stolen property, knowing it to be stolen, or 
taken by robbery." 

[In all higher crimes than those punishable by justices 
of the peace, an accused slave is tried in the same manner 
as a free white person : the bill of indictment against the 
accused must contain the allegation of his being a slave, 
&c. On the trial, the master has the right to defend the 
slave, by employing counsel, selecting the jury, &c.] 



MARYLAND. 

" That whensoever any ISTegro, Indian or mulatto slave, 
shall hereafter be charged with any pilfering or stealing, 
or any other crime or misdemeanor whereof the county 
court might have cognizance, it shall and may be lawful 
for any one of the justices, of the provincial or county 
courts, upon complaint made before him, to cause such 
Negro, Indian or mulatto slave, so offending, to be brought 
immediately before him, or any other justice of the peace 
for the county where such offence is committed, who upon 
due proof made against any such Negro or mulatto slave, 
of any of the crimes as aforesaid, such justice is hereby 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CIIUHCII. 125 

authorized and empowered to award and cause to be in- 
flicted, according to the nature of the crime, such pun- 
ishment, by whipping, as he shall think fit, not exceeding 
forty lashes." 

" That every slave committing any of the felonies here- 
inbefore mentioned [crimes involving the loss of life or 
limb], or any other offence which may by law subject such 
slave to the pains of death, shall be committed to the sher- 
iff of the county where the offence shall be committed, 
and that at the next assizes, or county court, which shall 
first happen to be held for the county where the offence 
shall be committed, the justices of assize, or either of 
them, or county court which shall first happen, shall and 
may by virtue of this act, try every such offender or of- 
fenders according to law, and upon the conviction of the 
offender or offenders, upon his, her, or their voluntary con- 
fession, or the verdict of a jury, upon the testimony of 
one or more legal or credible witness or witnesses, or even 
the testimony, or the evidence of other slaves, corrobo- 
rated with such pregnant circumstances as shall convince 
and satisfy the jury who shall try the fact of the guilt of 
such slave or slaves, to give judgment according to the 
nature and quality of the offence." 

[The laws of Maryland, on this subject, are enforced in 
the District of Columbia.] 



MISSOURI. 
'' Every person who shall cruelly or inhumanly tor- 
ture, beat, wound or abuse any slave in his employment, 
or under his charge, power or control, whether belonging 
to himself or another, shall on conviction be punished by 



126 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

imprisonment in a county jail, not exceeding one year, 
or by fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both, 
such fine and imprisonment. 

" If any slave, or his master, in any case cognizable be- 
fore a justice of the peace, shall require a jury, the jus- 
tice shall cause such jury to be summoned, sworn and 
empannelled, who shall determine the facts and assess 
the punishment, in case of conviction ; and the justice 
shall enter judgment and cause the same to be executed." 



VIRGINIA. " ;: 

"The justices of every county or corporation shall be 
justices of oyer and terminer, for trying slaves charged 
with felony ; which trials shall be by five at least, without 
juries, upon legal evidence, at such times as the sheriffs or 
other officers shall appoint, not being less than five, nor 
more than ten days, after the offenders shall have been 
committed to jail. No slave shall be condemned in any 
such case, unless all of the justices, sitting upon his or 
her trial, shall agree in opinion that the prisoner is guilty, 
after assigning him or her counsel, in his or her defence, 
whose fee, amounting to not less than five, nor more than 
twenty -five dollars, at the discretion of the justices sit- 
ting upon said trial, shall be paid by the owner of the 
slave. Provided alwaijs^ That when judgment of death 
shall be passed upon any such offender, there shall be 
thirty days at least, between the time of passing judgment 
and the day of execution, except in cases of conspiracy, 
insurrection or rebellion." 

[Other offences (not involving life or limb), punishable 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CIIIKCH. 127 

bj justices of the peace, by whipping, not exceeding forty 
stripes.] 

" And in cases when any slave or slaves shall be tried 
and convicted for any crime which may affect life, the 
court before whom such trials shall be had, shall cause 
the testimony for and against every such slave to be en- 
tered of record, and a copy of the whole proceedings to 
be transmitted forthwith to the executive." 



KENTUCKY. 

*' If the owner of any slave shall treat him cruelly and 
inhumanly, so as, in the opinion of a jury, to endanger 
the life or limb of such slave, or materially to affect his 
health ; or shall not supply his slave with sufficient 
wholesome food and raiment, such slave shall be taken 
and sold for the benefit of the owner." 

" The final trial of a slave, for offences punished with 
death, shall be had in the circuit court of the county in 
which the offence was committed ; and he shall be tried 
by a jury, in the same mode and manner as free persons 
are tried. 

"The master or owner of any slave may, on the trial 
of his slave for crimes or misdemeanors, defend him. 

" When any slave shall be charged with felony, the 
master or owner may bail such slave, in those cases in 
which free persons are bailable, according to the laws reg- 
ulating bail in criminal cases. 

" It shall be the duty of the master or owner, personal 
representative, or guardian of such owner, to employ 
counsel to defend a slave when tried in the circuit court. 
If no counsel be employed, the court shall assign counsel 
to defend him." 



128 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

[Crimes below those denominated felony, are punished 
bj whipping, and may be inflicted by order of a justice 
of the peace, or other court before whom the offender 
may be tried.] 



NORTH CAROLINA. 

*' The offence of killing a slave shall be homicide, and 
shall partake of the same degree of guilt, when accom- 
panied with the like circumstances, that homicide does at 
common law." 

" Every slave or free person of color who shall here- 
after be convicted of any felony, for which no specific 
punishment is prescribed by statute, and which is now 
allowed the benefit of clergy, shall be imprisoned, at the 
discretion of the court, not exceeding two years ; and in 
addition to such imprisonment, the court may sentence 
the convict to receive one or more public whippings, or 
to stand in the pillory, or if a free Negro, to pay a fine, 
regard being had to the circumstances of each case. 

" When a slave shall be apprehended or indicted for 
any offence, whereof the superior court has original juris- 
diction, his owner, if known, shall have ten days' notice 
of the trial, in order that he may have an opportunity of 
defending his slave ; the cost of which notice, and all 
other costs attending the trial for the slave, shall be paid 
by the owner, if such slave, being a free man, would be 
liable to the paj^nent thereof. And if the owner refuse 
to pay the same, execution in the name of the State may 
issue against such owner. 

" When the owner of any slave who may be tried, in 
virtue of this chapter, shall not be known, or cannot be 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 120 

ascertained, or shall reside out of the State, the Court 
shall appoint counsel to appear for the prisoner, who shall 
be allowed the same fees as the attorney for the State is 
allowed for such criminal prosecutions ; after which, the 
trial may proceed in the same manner as if the owner 
had been notified agreeably to the directions of this chap- 
ter ; and the fees for the counsel, clerk and sheriff, shall 
be paid by the county having cognizance of the offence, 
as any other county charges." 

" Whenever any slave shall be convicted before a jus- 
tice of the peace of any offence, the master on behalf of 
the slave may appeal to the next county or superior 
court, on entering into sufficient recognizance for the 
slave, and giving good security, as in other cases of 
appeals. 

"The superior court shall have exclusive original juris- 
diction of all felonies and other offences committed by 
slaves, which, by section thirty-two, are not assigned for 
trial before a justice of the peace ; and the trial shall be 
conducted in like manner as the trials of free men for the 
same offence; and moreover, the jurors shall be slave- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 

" That upon complaint made to any justice of the peace, 
of any heinous or grievous crime, committed by any slave 
or slaves, as murder, burglary, robbery, burning of houses, 
or any other lesser crimes, as killing, or stealing any 
neat or other cattle, maiming one the other, stealing of 
fowls, provisions, or such like trespasses, or injuries, the 
said justice shall issue out his warrant for apprehending 
6* 



130 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the offender or offenders, and for all persons to come 
before him that can give evidence ; and if upon exami- 
nation, it probably appeareth that the apprehended 
person is guilty, he shall commit him or them to prison, 
or immediately proceed to trial of the said slave or 
slaves, according to the form hereafter specified, or take 
security for his or their forthcoming, as the case shall 
require, and also, to certify to the justice next to him, the 
said course, and to require him, by virtue of this act, to 
associate himself to him, which the said justice is here- 
by required to do, and they so associated are to issue 
their summons to three sufficient freeholders, acquainting 
them with the matter, and appointing them a day, hour 
and place, when and where the same shall be heard 
and determined, at which day, hour and place, the said 
justice and freeholders shall cause the offender and 
evidences to come before them, and if they on hear- 
ing the matter, (the said freeholders being by the 
said justices, first sworn to judge uprightly and accord- 
ing to evidence,) and diligently weighing and 
examining all evidences, proofs and testimonies, and 
in case of murder only if on violent presumption 
and circumstances, they shall find such Negro or other 
slave or slaves, guilty thereof, they shall give sentence 
of death, if the crime, by law, deserves the same, and 
forthwith by their warrant cause immediate execution to 
be done, by the common or any other executioner, in such 
manner as they shall think fit, the kind of death to be 
inflicted to be left to their judgment and discretion ; and 
if the crime committed shall not deserve death, they shall 
then condemn and adjudge the criminal or criminals to 
any other punishment, but not extending to limb or dis- 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCIT. 131 

abling him, without a particular law directing such 
punishment, and shall forthwith order execution to be 
done accordingly." 



TENNESSEE. 

" The master, owner, or overseer of any slave to be 
arraigned and tried, may appear at the trial, and make 
what just defence he can for such slave or slaves, so that 
such defence does not relate to any formality in the pro- 
ceedings on the trial." 

" Where any slave or slaves shall hereafter commit any 
offence which is not by law declared capital, the justice 
before whom he or she is taken shall, and he is hereby 
authorized and empowered, forthwith to issue subpoenas, 
if necessary, to compel the attendance of witnesses, and 
proceed immediately upon the trial of such slave or slaves, 
in a summary way, and to pass sentence, and award 
execution. Provided^ The punishment shall extend no 
farther than ordering the offender to be publicly whipped, 
not exceeding forty lashes; and when the offence for 
which any slave shall be apprehended is declared by 
law to be capital, such offending slave shall be committed 
to jail, and stand his or her trial by a court, in the way 
prescribed by law." 

" The circuit court, in addition to the jurisdiction con- 
ferred by the Act to which this is a supplement, shall 
hereafter have exclusive original jurisdiction of all offences 
committed by slaves, which are by law punishable with 
death; and so much of the Acts of Assembly as requires 
a special court, consisting of justices, to try such cases in 
the first instance, be repealed. In all such cases, the trials 
of slaves shall be in all respects conducted and disposed 



132 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

of in the same manner, and under the same laws and rules 
that now govern such cases after they are taken into the 
circuit courts by appeal. Provided^ That such slave or 
slaves shall not be tried before a jury until an indictment 
or presentment is first found by the grand jury. And j^ro- 
vided, That if the master of the slave so tried does not 
employ counsel in his defence, the court shall assign him 
counsel, and shall fix the amount of his fee ; and such fee 
shall be recoverable by such counsel against the owner or 
owners of such slave, by action of debt. And provided^ 
That the owner of said slave shall not be liable to pay the 
costs of said prosecution." 



GEORGIA. 

"Any person who shall maliciously dismember, or de- 
prive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would 
be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on 
a free white person ; and on the like proof, except in case 
of insurrection by such slave, and unless such death should 
happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate cor- 
rection. 

" In all cases, the killing or maiming of a slave, or per- 
son of color, or Indian, in amity with the United States, 
shall be put upon the same footing of criminality as the 
killing or maiming of a white person. 

" If any person or persons whomsoever shall mali- 
ciously deprive a slave or slaves of life, he, she, or they so 
offending shall be prosecuted by indictment in the superior 
court of the county in which such offence may have been 
committed, in like manner as if the person or persons 
charged had perpetrated a like offence on any free white 
person or persons whomsoever ; and on all such trials the 



STATE LAWS— OPERATIONS OF THE CnURCU. 133 

same rules of law and evidence shall obtain, as on other 
trials for murder. And if, upon trial for such offence, any 
person or persons shall be found guilty of murder, ho, she, 
or they shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted 
in case the like offence had been committed on a free white 
person ; that is to say, shall be hanged, without the benefit 
of clergy. And if found guilty of manslaughter, shall be 
punished by branding [changed to penitentiary imprison- 
ment], in like manner as is usual in cases where any per- 
son or persons is or are convicted of manslaughter, com- 
mitted on a free white person or persons, except in case of 
insurrection by such slave, and unless such death should 
happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate cor- 
rection." 

[The trial of a slave, in cases in which his life is in- 
volved, is had in the same court, and conducted in the 
same manner, as that of a white person. The master is 
allowed to appear on the part of his slave, employ counsel, 
select the jury, arrange the evidence, &c.] 

" Any owner or employer of a slave or slaves, who 
shall cruelly treat such slave or slaves, by unnecessary and 
excessive whipping, by withholding proper food and 
sustenance, by requiring greater labor from such slave 
or slaves than he, she, or they are able to perform ; or by 
not affording proper clothing, whereby the health of such 
slave or slaves may be injured and impaired ; or cause, or 
permit the same to be done ; every such owner or em- 
ployer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on convic- 
tion, shall be punished by fine, or imprisonment in the 
common jail of the county, or both, at the discretion of the 



134 SLAVEKY IN THE UNITED STATES. 



FLORIDA. 

'' In tlie trial of any slave in the circuit court, the same 
rules and regulations shall be observed as are observed in 
the trial of free persons." 

" It shall be the duty of the courts of this State, charged 
with the trial of slaves, to assign and appoint counsel to 
defend any slave tried before them, in all cases where the 
master of any slave, his agent or guardian, fails or refuses 
to employ an attorney to defend such slave ; and all such 
attorneys shall receive for their services, from the master, 
owner, or guardian of such slave, any sum that the court 
shall deem reasonable — not exceeding fifty dollars — which 
shall be recoverable as other debts of like magnitude." 

[In all cases below those denominated capital, justices 
of the peace preside. Punishment inflicted by them ex- 
tends to whipping.] 



ALABAMA. 

The Constitution provides, that, "They [the General 
Assembly] shall have full power to oblige the owners of 
slaves to treat them with humanity ; to provide for them 
necessary food and clothing; to abstain from all injuries 
to them, extending to life or limb ; and in case of their 
neglect or refusal, to have such slave or slaves sold for 
the benefit of the owner or owners." 

The Constitution also provides, that, "In the prosecu- 
tion of slaves for crimes of a higher grade than petit lar- 
ceny, the General Assembly shall have no power to deprive 
them of an impartial trial by a petit jury." 

A farther constitutional provision is, "Any person who 
shall maliciously dismember, or deprive a slave of life, 



STATE LAWS —OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 135 

shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case 
the like offence had been committed on a free white person, 
and on the like proof; except in case of insurrection of 
such slave." 

A provisional statute is, "That whenever any slave 
shall be brought before a justice of the county court, or 
of the peace, for the commission of any offence against 
the penal laws of this State, of a higher grade than petit 
larceny; if the justice after examination, should think 
there are just and probable grounds of suspicion of the 
guilt or criminality of the offender, he shall immediately 
commit such slave to jail ; and he is hereby empowered 
and directed to issue a summons to the sheriff of the 
county, to summons the justices of the county court, and 
a jury of twelve good and lawful men of the vicinage, to 
meet at the court-house of said county ; neither of whom 
shall be master of said slave, or related to the master, or 
prosecutor of such slave, in any degree, which should be 
a cause of challenge to a juryman, in a trial of a free per- 
son. And such court and jury shall proceed in the trial 
of such slave, without presentment or indictment. And 
no slave shall be condemned, unless he be found guilty by 
a jury, after allowing him or her counsel, in his or her 
defence, whose fee, amounting to ten dollars, shall be 
paid by the owner of the slave : provided always^ that 
when judgment of death shall be passed upon such of- 
fender, there shall be thirty days, at least, between the 
time of passing judgment and the day of execution; ex- 
cept in cases of conspiracy, insurrection, or rebellion." 

Another statutory provision is, " That no cruel or 
unusual punishment shall be inflicted on any slave within 
this territory. And any owner of slaves authorizing or 



136 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

permitting the same, shall on conviction thereof, before 
any court having cognizance, be fined according to the 
nature of the offence, and at the discretion of the court, 
in a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars, to and for 
the use of this territory. 

" That the trial of a slave for felony, or any capital 
offence, shall be in all respects similar to the trial of a 
free citizen or inhabitant, for the like offence ; except that 
the jury, or two-thirds at least thereof, empannelled for 
such trial, shall be composed of owners of slaves." 



MISSISSIPPI. 

" No cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted on 
any slave within this State. And any master, or other 
person, entitled to the service of any slave, who shall 
inflict such cruel or unusual punishment, or shall authorize 
or permit the same to be inflicted, shall on conviction 
thereof, before any court having cognizance, be fined ac- 
cording to the magnitude of the offence, at the discretion 
of the court, in any sum not exceeding five hundred dol- 
lars, to be paid into the treasury of the State, for the use 
and benefit of the literary fund. 

"The justices of every county or corporation court in 
this State, shall be justices of oyer and terminer, for the 
trial of slaves charged with felony ; which trials shall be 
at the court-house of the proper count}^, and at such time 
as the sheriff or other officer, whose duty it shall be to 
summon such court, shall appoint ; unless the same be at 
a stated term of the county or corporation court, not being 
less than five, nor more than ten days after the offender 
or offenders shall have been committed to jail. And 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 137 

when any slave or slaves shall be committed for any 
offence, which by this act is declared to be capital, and 
punishable with death, it shall be the duty of such slicriff 
or other officer, to summon twenty-four good and lawful 
men of the vicinage, twelve of whom at least shall be 
slave-holders, in their own right : and neither the master 
of such slave or slaves, or any person related to him, or 
to the prosecutor, shall be one of the persons so sum.moned, 
to be and appear at the time and place when and where 
the said court shall be convened, for the trial of such of- 
fender or offenders; from which number a jury of twelve 
shall be selected, sworn and empannelled ; and such court 
and jury shall proceed to the trial of the slave or slaves 
charged as aforesaid, upon legal evidence, without present- 
ment or indictment, and on conviction by the verdict of a 
jury, the court shall proceed to pass sentence, and order 
execution thereof, according to law. 

"In the trial of slaves, the right of challenge of jurors 
for cause, shall be allowed to both parties, according to 
the rules of law prescribed in other cases of trial by jury, 
and a peremptory challenge on the part of the prisoner, 
to the number of six, in capital cases. 

"In the trial of any slave or slaves, for a capital crime, 
the court shall have power to grant new trials, according 
to the rules established in other criminal cases." [Counsel 
for the accused must be appointed by the court.] 

"When judgment of death shall be passed upon any 
slave or slaves, there shall be twenty days at least between 
the time of passing judgment, and the day of execution, 
except in cases of conspiracy, insurrection or rebellion." 



188 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

LOUISIANA. 

"When slaves are prosecuted in the name of the State, 
for offences thej have committed, notice must be given to 
their masters." 

[In this State when a master is convicted of cruel treat- 
ment of his slaves, the judge may pronounce, in addition 
to the penalty established by law, in such cases, that the 
slave shall be sold to some more humane owner, " in order 
to place him out of the reach of the power which his 
master has abused."] 

*' The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, 
who may correct and chastise him, though not with unu- 
sual rigor, nor so as to maim or mutilate him, or to expose 
him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death." 



ARKANSAS. 

The Constitution provides that the Legislature shall 
have power "to oblige the owner of any slave or slaves, 
to treat them with humanity : and in the prosecution of 
slaves for any crime, they shall not be deprived of an im- 
partial jury; and any slave who shall be convicted of a 
capital offence, shall suffer the same degree of punishment 
as would be inflicted on a free white person, and no other ; 
and courts of justice before whom slaves shall be tried, 
shall assign them counsel for their defence." 

" In all cases of felony, the slave committing the same 
shall be tried in the same court, and the same rules of evi- 
dence observed, as in cases of white persons committing 
the like offence ; excepting that slaves may be witnesses 
for and against slaves." 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 139 
TEXAS. 

The Constitution provides that the Legislature " shall 
have full power to pass laws, which will oblige the own- 
ers of slaves to treat them with humanity ; to provide for 
their necessary food and clothing ; to abstain from all in- 
juries to them, extending to life or limb ; and in case of 
their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of 
such laws, to have such slave or slaves taken from such 
owner, and sold for the benefit of such owner'or owners." 

Another constitutional provision is — "In the prosecu- 
tion of slaves for crimes of a higher grade than petit lar- 
ceny, the legislature shall have no power to deprive them 
of an impartial trial by a petit jury." 

And further — "Any person who shall maliciously dis- 
member, or deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such pun- 
ishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had 
been committed upon a free white person, and on the like 
proof — except in case of insurrection of such slaves." 

" That [all crimes, below those denominated capital] 
known to the common law of England; committed by 
slaves, shall be triable before the county courts, and 
on conviction shall be punished at the discretion of 
said courts, so as not to extend to life or limb." [Cases of 
the kind here mentioned are tried by juries.] 

[Crimes of a higher degree than those triable in the 
county courts, are tried in the district courts ; these trials 
are by juries. In such cases, if the owner refuses or neg- 
lects to employ counsel, counsel is assigned the accused 
by the court. The proceedings are the same as in cases 
of white persons.] 

" That if any person or persons shall murder any slave, 



140 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

or so cruelly treat the same as to cause death, the same 
shall be felony, and punished as in other cases of murder. 
" That if any person or persons shall cruelly or unrea- 
sonably treat or abuse any slave belonging to him, her, or 
them, or to another or others, he, she, or they, and each 
of them, shall be liable to indictment or presentment, as 
for a misdemeanor, in the district court, and on conviction 
thereof, may be fined for each and every such offence, not 
less than twenty dollars, nor more than five hundred dol- 
lars." 

There is no branch of the law, particularly in the older 
States, that requires revision more than those on the sub- 
ject of slaves. Many obsolete laws are permitted to re- 
main upon the statute-books, which greatly embarrass the 
subject, so that it becomes, in some instances, almost, per- 
haps to some, entirely imcomprehensible. 

Section 2. 
OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 

The following statements will show the results of the 
efforts of the different churches relative to the Negro, 
both in the United States and in Africa. 

Methodist Episcopal Churchy (South.) 

173 Missions. — The Missionary report of 1855 says, 
'' increased confidence is everywhere manifested towards 
these missions, and constantly increasing facilities afforded 
our missionaries by those who are most directly interest- 
ed, as the owners of the slaves. Every year the field is 
enlarging. From every direction the cry is heard, ' Come 
over and help us.' More plantations are opened than can 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 141 

be occupied. The planters, in many instances, contribute 
bberallj to their support." 

145 Missionaries. — This Church employs some 270 mis- 
sionaries; that is to say, 125 more than those employed 
among the colored people. For the support of all her 
missionaries, this Church disbursed in 1855, $172,654 63. 

53 Church edifices. — These buildings are generally 
erected by a number of planters uniting for that purpose. 

17,883 Children under instruction. 

170,150 Church members. 

Methodist Episcopal Churchy {N'orih.) 

This Church, several years ago, declined any farther 
effort in favor of the people of color in the Southern 
States ; (not formally to be sure, but effectually ;) and 
now, so far as respects these people, this Church presents 
the astonishing fact of a Methodist Church depriving 
itself of access to a small field of labor at home, containing 
some three millions of souls ! For these souls this Church 
makes, at present, no effort whatever; nor is it at all 
probable, perhaps not possible, that it ever will hereafter. 
Behold the effects of abolitionism ! 

At the time of the separation of the Churches, North 
and South, the operations in Africa were left with the 
Church North. 

The following statement will show the condition of 
things in Africa : 

Liberia Mission. — 1855. 
22 Missionaries.— This mission ''extends back from the 
coast up the principal rivers, and has access, not only to 
the inhabitants which have emigrated from America, but 



142 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

also to some one hundred and forty or one hundred and 
fifty thousand natives." 
1,449 Churcli members. 

21 Local preachers. 

22 Teachers, male and female. 

3 Seminaries of learning, to wit, Monrovia Seminary, 
Cape Palmas Seminary, and Millsburgh Female Academy. 

1 Labor school at White Plains, on the St. Paul's river. 

The report for 1855 says, " We have a number of day- 
schools in the mission, and Sunday-schools in every pas- 
toral charge. And besides these, arrangements are made 
to receive native youth into the families of nearly all our 
missionaries, that they may receive the rudiments of in- 
struction, and the first elements of Christian civilization." 
The amount disbursed in 1855, was $36,407. 

Baptist Church. 

Our efforts to procure reliable information with regard 
to this Church, both among the slaves of the South and 
the people of Africa, have resulted in the following state- 
ments : 

One of the corresponding secretaries of the Board of 
Foreign Missions, writes, "In the slave-holding States we 
have about 500,000 church-members, and perhaps one- 
half, or approaching that proportion, may be put down as 
colored. 

"In all the various departments of service, about thirty 
men, all colored men, excepting five. Our schools, week- 
day and Sunday, in Africa, number about five hundred 
scholars. A¥e expend in the foreign missions about 
$36,000, nearly two-thirds, or more than one-half, in Af- 
rica. The Domestic Board will expend about the same 



STATE LAWS — OPEEATIOXS OF THE CnURCII. 143 

amount in the home field. Our local associations proba- 
bly expend about $75,000 more, in the home field." 

The corresponding secretary of the Board of Domestic 
Missions writes, " In reply I have to state, that I am un- 
able to give you any satisfactory information on the sub- 
ject of your inquiry. The Board of which I am secretary, 
has seven missionaries employed for the benefit of the 
colored people : two of these are in Georgia; two in Ala- 
bama; one in Baltimore, and one in Washington City; 
the two latter are colored men." 



Presbyterian Church. 

Our information relating to the operations of this Church 
is as follows: 

The statistics in regard to Liberia, asked for in yours of 
the 25th inst., are the following : three missionaries (minis- 
ters of the Gospel), two of them white and one colored, 
in connection with the Presbytery of Tuscaloosa. 

8 Licentiate preachers, colored. 

5 Colored teachers. 

1 High school, with fifteen scholars. 

4 English schools, one hundred and fifty - three scholaro. 

4 Sabbath schools, one hundred scholars. 

4 Churches, with one hundred and thirty-nine com- 
municants. 

These missionaries and schools are supported by the 
Board of Foreign JMissions of the Presbyterian Church. 
A number of special donations for the African Mission, is 
received from the colored church-members of the South. 

In the Presbyterian Church in the United States there 
are 10,419 colored communicants. 



144 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The secretary of the Domestic Board writes : 

1. That the Presbyterian Cliurcli has in the slave- 
holding States 9,533 colored communicants. 

2. That the Church has in said States 801 ministers of 
the Gospel ; 150 of whom were domestic missionaries, who 
give more or less attention to the colored population. 

3. That there was reported for domestic missionary 
purposes, by the churches in said States, the sum of 
$32,863 ; of which amount $19,028 was contributed to the 
Board of Domestic Missions. 



We have to regret the meager and unsatisfactory condi- 
tion of our Church information. Our desire was to present 
in detail the operations of the Methodist (North and South), 
the Baptist, the Presbyterian and the Episcopal Churches 
amongst the slaves in the United States and the people of 
Africa. We wished to show the number of church mem- 
bers ; the numbers forming the congregations : the num- 
ber of schools (week-day and Sunday); the mode of 
teaching ; the number of preachers and teachers employed ; 
the number of scholars; the amount of money raised, 
disbursed, <fec., by each Church ; but the manner in which 
these things have been kept by the Churches has almost 
totally defeated our object. The Churches appear to be 
content to perform the work without troubling themselves 
much about details. There has been no manifested un- 
willingness on the part of those to whom we have applied 
to supply us with the information desired, except by the 
Episcopal Church ; those of this church to whom we ap- 
plied declined to respond to our inquiries. 

So strong is our desire to present the whole of this in- 
formation, that we yet indulge the hope that members of 



STATE LAWS — OPERATIONS OF THE CJIL'KCIl. 145 

these respective Churches will compile tables containing 
it, which we may present in a subsequent edition. The 
cause of truth and justice requires that such information 
should be published. 

Section 8. 

From the foregoing exhibit it will be seen that the 
State and the Church have done, and are doing much for 
the protection and the improvement of the slave; yet 
there is much necessary to his well-being that must be 
done by the master and his family. 

It will be admitted that one of the strongest motives 
that induces human conduct is personal interest; this 
strong motive works in favor of the slave. Being, as he 
is, the property of his master, it is the master's interest to 
provide for his comfort, and to preserve his health ; hence 
the necessity of providing him with a sufficient quantity 
of wholesome food, and clothing suitable to the season. (It 
is a well-known fact, that there is less sickness and 
mortality amongst the colored than amongst the white 
population, according to numbers.) When a slave falls 
sick, it is the master's interest, leaving out motives of 
humanity, that he should be restored to health as speedily 
as possible ; hence, as soon as he becomes too unwell to 
labor, the family physician is immediately called in, and 
nurses are employed to attend upon him ; all this is done 
under the supervision of the master and his family. Many 
large bills are paid to physicians for their attention to 
slaves alone. 

The slaves always find strong friends in the white 
children of the family, by whom many of them are 
taught to read. It is a scene of some interest to behold 
7 



146 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the teaching process. A large class of grown and un- 
grovvn persons is arranged in proper order before its 
teacher ; words are given out to each individual, which 
they are required to spell. Some inattentive scholar is 
soon detected by his inability to perform his task. He is 
tried over and over again, without success, until the little 
teacher becomes worried and impatient, and more atten- 
tion is promised on the part of the scholar. The proceed- 
ing is then continued with the others of the class. We 
allude to this, or something like it, as a general arrange- 
ment. 

As soon as a slave learns to read, he procures a ISTew 
Testament (this is their favorite book ; wdth its parables, 
allegories and metaphors they are delighted), over which 
he will pore for hours together. It is a fact worthy of 
mention, that not an infidel or sceptic is to be found 
amongst slaves ; sinners may be found amongst them in 
large numbers, but they invariably entertain correct views 
of the principles of Christianity, and acknowledge their 
truth. They leave infidelity and scepticism to those of 
superior intellectual endowments! 



CHAPTEE Y. 

COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 
Section 1. 

^''Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God^ — 
This prophecy is now in the course of rapid and suc- 
cessful fulfilment. 

The idea of Christianizing Africa by means of native 
preachers, educated in, and sent from the United States, 
was conceived by the Eev. Samuel Hopkins, D.D. This 
divine was the founder of the sect called Hopkinsians, 
whose creed may be summed up in the following brief and 
beautiful sentence : " All true virtue or real holiness, 
consists in disinterested benevolence." D'r Hopkins died 
at Newport, in the State of Ehode Island, where he had 
resided many years, in 1803. 

Before the Eevolutionary war, the people of Newport 
were largely engaged in the African slave-trade ; indeed, 
this was the principal source of their commerce and wealth. 
D'r Hopkins himself had been a slave-holder, but had sold 
his slave property before he came to Newport to reside. 

After long and patient investigation, D'r Hopkins 
became thoroughly convinced that the slave-trade was 
iniquitous ; this he announced to his congregation in a 
prepared discourse. Alexander says, " Although the 
people of Newport were deeply engaged in the slave-trade, 
and derived their wealth very much from this source, and 



148 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

his own people [those of his church] as much as others, 
yet he determined to lift up his voice against it, and, ac- 
cordingly, several years before the commencement of the 
Eevolutionary war, he preached a sermon to his people, 
pointedly condemning this iniquitous traffic." 

D'r Hopkins did not stop at the mere announcement of 
his convictions, he desired to reduce them to practical 
operation. Accordingly he applied the funds arising 
from the sale of his slave property, "to the scheme of 
educating Africans, to be sent back to their own country 
to instruct their countrymen. And as he knew that a 
solitary individual could accomplish but little in such a 
work, he set himself to form an African Missionary Society, 
to educate and send out missionaries to carry the Gospel 
to that benighted region." 

D'r Hopkins soon engaged in this enterprise Dt Ezra 
Stiles, then pastor of a congregation in Newport, after- 
wards president of Yale College. These ministers issued 
a circular letter, setting forth their benevolent intentions, 
which soon brought them funds sufficient to enable them 
to educate Bristol Yamma and John Quamine, two Afri- 
cans, members of the First Congregational Church in 
Newport. Yamma and Quamine were sent to Princeton, 
New Jersey, " to be for a season under the tuition of the 
Eev. D'r Witherspoon, the president of the New Jersey 
College." Alexander says, "Besides the two already 
mentioned (who now only waited for a good opportunity 
of sailing for Africa), there was a third, named Salmur 
Nuba, a member of the Second Congregational Church 
in Newport, then under the pastoral charge of D'r Stiles." 
The Revolutionary war coming on, however, defeated 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 149 

these benevolent undertakings — the missionaries did not 
go out at that time. 

Here is sufficient proof to show, that the Christianizing 
Africa, by means of native preachers, educated in the 
United States, is an American idea ; at least, the idea 
first became a reahty here. And from this idea, it is 
altogether probable, flowed the great conception of colon- 
izing Africa with the free persons of color in Enghmd and 
the United States ; indeed, colonization seems to be but 
the maturity of the idea. 

Section 2. 

Sierra Leone, — A¥e have not the proof necessary to en- 
able us to assert unqualifiedly, that the idea of D'r Hop- 
kins led to colonization ; but we have said that the truth 
was probably so ; we have said so, because D'r Hopkins 
and Granville Sharp, (who should be regarded as the 
father of African colonization in England,) were in close 
and familiar correspondence, during the life of Dr. Hop- 
kins; it is probable, therefore, that the subject of coloniz- 
ation was discussed between them : however this may be, 
D'r Hopkins and M'r Sharp were engaged in one work — 
a great enterprise, affording sufficient honor for both and 
for all. 

During the war of the Revolution, many slaves were in- 
duced to leave their owners and take refuge in the British 
army ; they followed the army out of the country. The 
injustice of this act was acknowledged, and as far as 
it could be, atoned for, by England paying for the prop- 
erty carried away. (It is singular that the same thing oc- 
curred in the war of 1812 !) The Negroes were made to 
believe that they would not only be free, but amply pro- 



150 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

vided for, with all tlie necessaries of easy living, when 
they arrived in England. These promises were sufficient 
to induce them to leave their masters, (but few Negroes 
like to work,) but they were promises never realized by 
them. When they arrived in London, like those that 
now escape from their masters into the Northern States, 
and Canada, they came to the knowledge that they would 
have to work much harder than formerly, to secure the 
same amount of good. Disappointed, they roamed about 
the streets, begging from door to door, and pilfering what 
they could. Poverty, in this case, as in all other cases, 
brought with it its attendant concomitants, and the con- 
dition of the Negroes became deplorable. This excited 
the commiseration of Sharp, Wilberforce, Thornton, 
Hardcastle, Clarkson and others, whose efforts resulted 
in the colonization of the Negroes in Africa. 

Companies having been organized and chartered in 
1787, a district of country was purchased from the native 
chiefs, as a settlement for the Negroes — it was called Sier- 
ra Leone. Sierra Leone is the name of a river, discover- 
ed in 1462 ; it was formerly called Mitomba. " The 
name Sierra Leone," says Lynch, '* was given to the moun- 
tain range south of the river, from the fancy that the loud 
reverberation of thunder in the vallies, resembled the 
roaring of lions." Sharp called this territory " The Prov- 
ince of Freedom." 

The British government, at once, identified itself with 
this enterprise ; it assumed the expense of transporting 
the Negroes to the colony, and the suplying of them, for 
six months after their arrival, with such necessaries as 
their condition required. The first colonists that went 
out suffered from being too much crowded in their ships ; 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 151 

out of four hundred and sixty who embarked, eighty- 
four died on the passage ; and after they had landed, be- 
fore the close of the rainy season, a hundred more died 
from the climate. In 1790, the colonists lost their settle- 
ment by difficulties with the natives ; in 1791 they recov- 
ered it. 

Some of the Negroes who took refuge in the British 
army, were conveyed to Nova Scotia. "These," sa^ 
Alexander, " finding the severe climate of this Northern 
province uncongenial to their constitutions, and having 
heard of the colony at Sierra Leone, dispatched a delegate 
to England, to request that they might also be transported 
to Africa." These persons were, by the government, con- 
veyed to the colony ; they numbered eleven hundred and 
thirty-one : on the passage from Halifax to England six- 
ty-five died. The Negroes originally from the United 
States, and the Maroons from the West Indies, made up 
the colonists of Sierra Leone. 

Section 3. 

In 1794, England and France were at war. " On the 
27th of September," says Alexander, " a French squad- 
ron made its appearance on the coast, and began to fire 
on the town. All resistance being vain against such a force, 
the colony was immediately surrendered into their hands. 
The conduct of the French commodore and his men was 
ferocious and even cruel, to this hapless infant colony. 
They not only seized the goods of the company and of 
the English residents, but robbed the houses of the poor 
blacks of whatever they could carry away ; and then set 
the town on fire. Even the church was pillaged, and 
the medicine-store destroyed ; which last proved the se- 



152 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

verest loss of all. After the first conflagration, a second 
was ordered, in which the church and all the remaining 
houses were consumed. And most unfortunately, while 
the French had possession of the colony, the company's 
largest ship, the Harpy, came in sight, having on board 
several passengers, and goods to the amount of £10,000. 
Observing the demolition of the company's houses, she 
IHit back to sea, but was discovered and pursued hy the 
French; and when captured, all the goods were seized, 
and even the property of the English passengers was 
also taken. None of these articles were landed, but im- 
mediately carried away. What rendered this calamity 
doubly severe was the fact, that in this vessel the compa- 
ny had yent out a plant-hatch, containing many valuable 
articles received from the king's collection at Kew, which 
it was supposed would be likely to grow and flourish in 
this climate. Two other vessels of the company, employ- 
ed in the coasting trade, were also taken. All the native 
chiefs appeared to be afflicted on account of the over- 
whelming calamity which had befallen the colonj^, except 
the slave-dealers: these, from the beginning, viewed the 
rising colony with an invidious eye, and as they cherished 
hostile feelings towards it, so they rejoiced in its destruc- 
tion." Here we see the wreck of the first attempt made 
for the purpose of redeeming Africa. The pecuniary loss 
of the colony amounted to about £60,000; and when it 
is remembered that this occurred just at the commence- 
ment of the sickly season, we need not say that the suf- 
ferings of the colonists were excessively great. To the 
French belongs the honor of this hrillicmt achievement — the 
crushing of this defenceless work of benevolence. The 
amount of injury done in the colony, and at other places, 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 153 

during this hostile visit, was rated at £400,000. From 
the losses sustained the colony slowly recovered, and it 
is altogether probable that these disasters crippled the 
energies of the colony permanently. 

" In 1803, it was suggested to the company by the min- 
istry, that it would be for the benefit of the colony to 
transfer the civil and military power from the company 
to the government. The cession "svas accordingly made, 
and the colony is now under the authority of a governor 
who resides at Sierra Leone, appointed by, and amenable 
to, the British government." 

At the time that the company transferred the colony 
to the government, the directors made a report, from 
which we take the following extract : " The company 
have communicated the benefits flowing from a knowl- 
edge of letters, and from Christian instruction, to hun- 
dreds of Negroes on the coast of Africa ; and by a care- 
ful education in this country, they have elevated the 
character of several of the children of African chiefs, 
and directed their minds to objects of the very first im- 
portance to their countrymen. They have ascertained 
that the cultivation of every valuable article of tropical 
export may be carried on in Africa; that Africans in a 
state of freedom are susceptible of the same motives of 
industry and laborious exertion, which influence the na- 
tives of Europe ; and that some African chiefs are sufii- 
ciently enlightened to comprehend, and sufficiently patri- 
otic to encourage, schemes of improvement. They have 
demonstrated that N'egroes may be governed by the same 
mild laws which are found consistent with the mainte- 
nance of rational liberty, even in this kingdom; and that 
they may be safely and advantageously entrusted with 
7* 



154 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the administration of those laws, not only as jurors, but 
even as judicial assessors. They have in some measure re- 
trieved the credit of the British — it may be added, of the 
Christian name on the continent of Africa ; and have con- 
vinced its inhabitants that there are Englishmen who are 
actuated by very different motives from those of self-in- 
interest, and who desire nothing so much as their improve- 
ment and happiness. To conclude, they have established 
in a central part of Africa a colony, which appears to be 
now provided with adequate means both of defence and 
subsistence ; which, by the blessing of Providence, may 
become an emporium of commerce, a school of industry, 
and a source of knowledge, civilization and religious im- 
provement, to the inhabitants of that continent ; and 
which may hereafter repay to Great Britain the benefits 
she shall have communicated, by opening a continually 
increasing market for those manufactures which are now 
no longer secure of their accustomed vent on the conti- 
nent of Europe." The colony has continued to become 
more and more useful, in the great objects of its founda- 
tion ; and now exercises a large influence for good over 
many of the surrounding tribes and nations. 

There are some important considerations arising from 
the statements connected with the colonization of Sierra 
Leone, that require attention before we close this section. 
There is something astonishing in the fact, that according 
to English sentiment, what is very properly done by Eng- 
land respecting African colonization, becomes criminal 
when it is done by the United States. (There are some 
honorable exceptions to this remark.) Englishmen can- 
not see why the free people of color in the United States 
cannot be allowed quietly to remain where they are, and 



COLONIZATION— SIERRA LEONE— LIBERIA. 155 

enjoy the privileges of citizenship. They see no pro- 
priety in our urging these persons to seek a home in Li- 
beria. They condemn all this as unkind, if not inhuman. 
To Englishmen holding these opinions we would say, 
Why did not England permit the few persons of color in 
London, her first colonists, to remain where they were ? 
Why were they required to make the first experiment in 
colonization ? If it be commendable in Anglo-Saxons to 
colonize in Africa their free people of color, how is the 
doing the same thing by Anglo-Americans blameworthy ? 
We but follow their example ! But in this we see, 
as we are wont to see in all British policy — England 
must be allowed to do what she pleases, and condemn 
whom she will, in every instance, and under all circum- 
stances. We rejoice to know, that at last the United 
States have become worried with this course of injustice, 
and are determined no longer to submit to it. 

And there is another important fact that must be 
noticed in this connection. How came the Kegroes, with 
whofn we are colonizing Liberia, in the United States ? 
Englislimen brought them here^ and sold them to us I We 
came by them honestly, and are as honestly engaged in 
seeking their present and future welfare, in our own way. 
How came England by her colonists? The proprieties of 
history forbid that we should give the answer to this 
question in plain language: we submit the answer to 
English abolitionists, whether they be found in the walks 
of private life, or exercising governmental functions. 

There is one other consideration which must be alluded 
to here. The primary objects that the people of the 
United States have in colonizing Liberia, are the good of 
the colonists individually, and the redemption of Africa. 



156 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

More elevated objects never entered into any enterprise. 
What, according to all accounts, particularly the extract 
which we have made from the report of the directors, 
was the primary object of the colonization of Sierra 
Leone? The answer is, commercial advantage. Com- 
merce, which is but an incidental consideration with the 
colonizationists of the United States, forms the para- 
mount object with the colonizationists of England — here 
lies the difference between the parties. We except a por- 
tion of the English Church from the force of the fore- 
going remark. 

Section 4. 

Liberia. — Although the authorship of the idea of colo- 
nizing Africa may be debatable, we assert unqualifiedly, 
that to Virginia belongs the honor of making the first 
efforts in the United States to reduce it to successful prac 
lice. And as Virginia took the lead, so she has sustained 
herself in the van of the enterprise thus far. Perhaps 
no State in the Union has had more opprobrium cast upon 
her by abolitionists, foreign and domestic, than Virginia ; 
yet this noble State has held on her course with a steadi- 
ness that all her enemies have been unable to disturb. 

M'r Jefferson was among the first that broached the 
subject. He did it in such a way as to show that his 
mind was deeply impressed with it ; but he recommended 
no plan, indeed he had not matured a plan satisfactory to 
himself. When the African colonization scheme was 
brought forward, M'r Jefferson gave it his decided ap- 
probation. 

To D'r Thornton, a Virginian, belongs the honor of 
being the first who ''seriously contemplated sending a 



COLONIZATION— SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 157 

colony to Africa." In the year 1787, before the coloniza- 
tion of Sierra Leone, it will be observed, *' D'r Thornton 
not only formed a plan of African colonization, but 
actually attempted its execution, intending to become 
himself the leader of the colony. He published an 'Address' 
to the free people of color in Khode Island and Massa- 
chusetts, inviting them to accompany him to the western 
coast of Africa, with the view of planting a colony in the 
land of their forefathers." This effort of D'r Thornton 
was too much in advance of the times, as were the other 
efforts. It had not been sufficiently discussed ; it had not 
matured in the public mind, without which nothing of the 
sort can succeed in this country ; it therefore failed. D'r 
Thornton lived, however, to see his plan carried out suc- 
cessfully by the Colonization Society, of which he was an 
oflQcer. 

In the year 1800, the Legislature of Virginia, in secret 
session, ^^Eesolved, that the Governor be requested to 
correspond with the President of the United States on the 
subject of purchasing lands, without the limits of this 
State, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, or dangerous 
to the peace of society, may be removed." M'r Monroe, 
then governor of Virginia, opened a correspondence with 
M'r Jefferson, then President of the United States. All 
understood the resolution to refer to persons of color, but 
its language was so ambiguous, that both M'r Monroe and 
M'r Jefferson doubted of its import. The correspondence 
which had ensued on the resolution was submitted to the 
Session of 1802, when the Legislature passed the follow- 
ing resolution : ''Resolved, That the Governor be requested 
to correspond with the President of the United States, for 
the purpose of obtaining a place, without the limits of the 



158 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

same, to whicTi free Negroes, or Mulattoes, and such Negroes 
or Mulattoes as may be emancipated, may be sent, or 
choose to remove, as a place of asylum." The Legislature 
directed the Governor " to prefer the continent of Africa, 
or any of the Spanish or Portuguese settlements in South 
America." Here the matter rested until 1804. 

M'r Jefferson, in 1804, revived the correspondence on 
this subject with Grovernor Page, in which he expresses a 
preference for the territory of Louisiana, just purchased by 
the United States. Governor Page submitted M'r Jeffer- 
son's letter to the Legislature. The Legislature passed a 
resolution in conformity with M'r Jefferson's suggestion, in 
January, 1805. Nothing was accomplished, however, by 
this resolution. 

After this, Ann MifiQin, supposed to belong to the 
Society of Friends, "had conceived the plan of a colony 
on the western coast of Africa, and, through a M'r Lynd, 
applied to M'r Jefferson for his opinion respecting the 
practicability of such an enterprise." M'r Jefferson re- 
turned M'r Lynd a long and detailed answer, dated in 
1811, in which he says : *' Yoa have asked my opinion on 
the proposition of Ann Mifflin, to take measures for pro- 
curing, on the coast of Africa, an establishment to which 
the people of color of these States might from time to time 
be colonized, under the auspices of different governments. 
Having long ago made up my mind on this subject, I have 
no hesitation in saying that I have ever thought that the 
most desirable measure which could be adopted, for 
gradually drawing off this part of our population — most 
advantageous for themselves as well as for us. Going 
from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might 
be the means of transplanting them among the inhabitants 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 159 

of Africa, and would thus carry back to the country of their 
origin the seeds of civilization, which might render their 
sojournment here a blessing in the end to that country." M'r 
Jefferson says further : " I received, in the last year of my 
entering into the administration of the general government 
a letter from the governor of Virginia, consulting me, at 
the request of the Legislature of the State, on the means 
of procuring some such asylum, to which these people 
might be occasionally sent. I proposed to him the estab- 
lishment of Sierra Leone. I directed M'r King, Ameri- 
can envoy in London, to ascertain whether Negroes from 
this country would be admitted into the colony. M'r 
King wrote : ' That the colony was going on in but a 
languishing condition; that the funds of the company 
were likely to fail, as they received no return of profit to 
keep them up ; that they were then in treaty with the 
government to take the establishment off their hands, but 
that in no event should they be willing to receive more of 
these people from the United States, as it was that portion 
of settlers who had gone from the United States, who, by 
their idleness and turbulence, had kept the settlement in 
constant danger of dissolution. ' " In this letter, M'r 
Jefferson writes : " Nothing is more to be wished than 
that the United States would themselves undertake to 
make such an establishment on the coast of Africa." The 
war with Great Britain coming on shortly after this, 
nothing more was done until 1816. 

Here we see that the public mind in Virginia was, for 
several years, closely occupied with this subject; her 
most distinguished statesmen had it under consideration, 
and alluded to it in their conversations and correspond- 
ence. It affords the intelligent mind much pleasure to 



160 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

watcli the progress of this great measure, as it passed 
from its incipiency to its accomplishment. 

Section 5. 

Immediately after the war the discussion of the subject 
was revived. Gen. Charles Fenton Mercer, a member of 
the Virginia Legislature, " heard, by mere accident, of the 
secret resolutions which had been passed at former ses- 
sions, and having satisfied himself of their nature, by ref- 
erence to the recorded minutes of the House, resolved to 
bring up the subject anew." With regard to the resolu- 
tions, Gen. Mercer says: "With respect to the first of 
them, (the secret resolutions,) I can truly say, that the 
intelligence broke in upon me like a ray of light through 
the profoundest gloom, and by a mere accident which oc- 
curred in the spring of 1816; that upon two several occa- 
sions, very early in the present century, the General 
Assembly of Virginia had invited the aid of the United 
States to obtain a territory, beyond their limits, whereon 
to colonize certain portions of our colored population. 
For the evidence of these facts, then new to me, I was re- 
ferred to the clerk of the Senate, by the friend who re- 
vealed them, and in the private records of that body I 
found them verified." 

Upon this information. Gen. Mercer concerted with 
Francis S. Key, of Georgetown, and Elias B. Caldwell, of 
Washington City, a plan for carrying the object of the 
resolutions into execution. Accordingly, in December, 
1816, ("prior to the organization of the Colonization So- 
ciety, but with a view to its approaching formation," of 
which Gen. Mercer had been informed by Mr. Key,) Gen. 
Mercer introduced into the "House of Delegates, a reso- 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. Ibl. 

lution whicli stands recorded on its journal, asking the aid 
of the General Government, to procure in Africa, or else- 
where beyond the limits of the United States, a territory 
on which to colonize our free people of color, who might 
be disposed to avail themselves of such an asylum, and 
such of our slaves as their masters might please to 
emancipate." 

The nameof Rev. Eobert Finlej, D. D.,of the borough of 
Princeton, in the State of New Jersey, must always find a 
conspicuous place, in speaking of the early efforts of African 
colonization. D'r Finley had thought much on the subject 
of the free persons of color in the United States. In 1815, 
he wrote a letter to John 0. Mumford, Esq., of New York, 
from which it is manifest that he had the scheme of colo- 
nization in Africa fully in his mind, more than a year 
before Gen. Mercer knew anything about the secret reso- 
lutions. No sooner had D'r Finley matured his plans 
than he took measures to carry them into practical effect. 
He embraced every opportunity of proposing the scheme 
to his friends: "all seemed to admit that the design was 
good, both as it related to the free Negroes and to the 
dark continent of Africa ; but few of them could be per- 
suaded, however, that there was any probability that such 
a scheme could be carried into effect ; and although they 
did not oppose it, they did not at once enter very zeal- 
ously into his views." 

Colonization we regard as a providential measure, as 
it stands connected with the ultimate purpose. Providen- 
tial arrangements are perfected through instrumentalities. 
The individuals and bodies engaged in forming the scheme 
of colonization, were but the instruments Providence em- 
ployed for the purpose of its accomplishment — this is the 



162 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

first consideration. Another is, that colonization is a 
Southern measure ; concocted by Southern men, and sus- 
tained, principally, by Southern means. To show that we 
are correct in what we here state, we refer to the facts, 
that when D'r Finley proposed the plan to Northern men, 
if they did not shrink from it, they received it but coldly, 
and no one proposed cooperation, or aid, in any way. 
Gen. Mercer's applications were to Southern men. No 
sooner were his propositions submitted, than they awakened 
in them the determination of putting the plan into imme- 
diate operation. Gen. Mercer says : "I repaired to the 
city of Baltimore, where, by sundry addresses to the peo- 
ple, in one of which I was sustained by Francis S. Key, 
and by personal applications to the citizens, (in which I 
was accompanied from place to place for many days, by 
Eobert Purviance,) we succeeded in obtaining a subscrip- 
tion of near five thousand dollars, to defray the expenses 
of the expedition of Mess'rs Mills and Burgess, to explore 
the coast of Africa, in order to select a suitable place for 
the proposed colony." We submit another view, to show 
that colonization is a Southern measure ; — suppose the 
South should withdraw from it. Who does not see that it 
would immediately fail ? Suppose the North should with- 
draw from it, would that defeat the measure? Not at all 
— that would but slightly retard it. But in such an enter- 
prise there is room enough for all. East, West, North and 
South. 

Section 6. 

The preliminary arrangements having been made, on 
the 21st of December, 1816, a public meeting was called 
in the city of Washington, over which M'r Clay presided. 
On taking the chair, M'r Clay made a speech, stating the 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 163 

objects of the meeting to be, to devise the plans necessary 
to the colonizing, in Africa, the free persons of color in 
the United States ; and of forming an association for the 
purpose of executing that object. " This class of the 
mixed population of our country," said M'r Clay, "was 
peculiarly situated : they neither enjoyed the immunities 
of freemen, nor were they subject to the incapacities of 
slaves, but partook, in some degree, of the qualities of 
both. From their condition, and the unconquerable 
prejudices resulting from their color, they never could 
amalgamate with the free whites of this country. It was 
desirable, therefore, both as it respected them and the 
residue of the population of the country, to draw them off. 
Various schemes of colonization had been thought of, and 
a part of our continent, it was thought by some, might 
furnish a suitable establishment for them, but for his part 
he had a decided preference for some part of the coast of 
Africa: there, ample provision might be made for the 
colony itself, and it might be rendered instrumental to the 
introduction into that extensive quarter of the globe, of 
the arts, civilization and Christianity." 

M'r Caldwell addressed the meeting, stating the benefits 
to be derived by the free people of color in the United 
States, forming a government in Africa, where they and 
their children might live and enjoy rights and privileges 
which they could not enjoy here. 

M'r Eandolph also addressed the meeting: he said, 
"that there was nothing in the proposition submitted to 
consideration, luMch in the smallest degree touched another 
very imjportant and delicate question^ which ought to he left as 
much out of view as possible. But it appeared to him, that 
it had not been sufficiently insisted on, with a view to 



164 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

obtain the cooperation of all tlie citizens of the United 
States, not only that this meeting does not, in any wise^ 
afiect the question of negro slavery, but as far as it goes, 
must materially tend to secure the property of every master 
in the United States, over his slaves. It was a notorious 
fact, that the existence of this mixed and intermediate 
population of free Negroes, was viewed by every slave- 
holder as one of the greatest sources of the insecurity and 
unprofitableness of slave property ; that they serve to 
excite in their fellow beings a feeling of discontent, of re- 
pining at their situation, and that they act as channels of 
communication, not only between different slaves, but be- 
tween the slaves of different districts ; that they are the 
depositaries of stolen goods, and the promoters of mischief. 
In a worldly point of view then, without entering into the 
general question, and apart from those higher and nobler 
motives which had been presented to the meeting, the 
owners of slaves were interested in providing a retreat for 
this part of our population.''^ 

After the speeches had been delivered, M'r Caldwell 
offered a preamble and resolutions, which were adopted ; 
the third in the series, is, ^^Resolved^ That Francis S. Key, 
Bushrod Washington, Elias B. Caldwell, James Breckin- 
ridge, Walter Jones, Eichard Eush, and William G. D. 
Worthington, be a committee to prepare a constitution 
and rules for the government of the association or society, 
above mentioned, and report the same to the next meeting 
for consideration." The meeting then adjourned until the 
following Saturday, when it again assembled in the Hall 
of the House of Eepresentatives. At that meeting the 
committee reported a constitution, which was unanimously 
adopted. 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 165 

The first article of the constitution provides, that "This 
Society shall be called, The American Society for coloniz- 
ing the free people of color of the United States." 

The second article declares the object of the Society — 
'' The object to which its attention is to be exclusively 
directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing, 
with their consent, the free people of color residing in our 
country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall 
deem most expedient. And the Society shall act, to effect 
this object, in cooperation with the General Government, 
and such of the States as may adopt regulations upon the 
subject." 

The Society having been formed, it proceeded, on the 
1st day of January, 1817, to elect officers; Hon. Bushrod 
Washington was elected president. The vice-presidents 
w^ere Hon. William H. Crawford, Hon. Henry Clay, Hon. 
William Phillips, Col. Henry Eutgers, Hon. John E. 
Howard, Hon. Samuel Smith, Hon. John C. Herbert, John 
Taylor, Esq., Gen. Andrew Jackson, Eobert Kalston, Esq., 
Richard Eush, Esq., Gen. John Mason, Eev. Eobert Finley. 

The Board of Managers were, Francis S. Key, Walter 
Jones, John Laird, Eev. D'r James Laurie, Eev. Stephen 
B. Balch, Eev. Obadiah B. Brown, James H. Blake, John 
Peter, Edmund J. Lee, William Thornton, Jacob Hoffman, 
Henry Carrol. 

The sole object of the Society, it will be observed, is, 
THE COLONIZING, IN AFEICA, THE FEEE PEO- 
PLE OF COLOE IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH 
THEIE CONSENT. This is the only proposition that 
the Society makes: to this proposition it has faithfully 
adhered during the whole time of its existence, which 
now nearly covers the period of four decades of years. 



166 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

An expounder of the principles of the Society says: 
"We resort to no formidable, violent measures, in the 
pursuit of our object. Mild, temperate, moderate, exciting 
no apprehensions, it appeals to Heaven for the continua- 
tion of that countenance and support which it has hitherto 
deigned to extend to us. This Society has constantly 
protested, from its origin down to the present time, that 
we have not, do not, and never will, interfere upon the 
subject of slavery as it exists in the United States. It is 
no part of our purpose or office to do that. These are our 
principles, and with these and perseverance, success, in 
my opinion, is beyond all human doubt." 

The purposes of the Society are shown in another form, 
to wit : " 1. To rescue the free colored people of the 
United States from their political and social disadvantages. 
2. To place them in a country where they may enjoy the 
benefits of free government, with all the blessings which it 
brings in its train. 3. To spread civilization, sound 
morals, and true religion, throughout the continent of 
Africa. 4. To arrest and destroy the slave-trade. 5. To 
afford slave-owners, who wish or are willing to liberate 
their slaves, an asylum for their reception." 

The consummate prudence with which the affairs of the 
Society have been conducted, challenges the admiration 
of all. It is difficult to imagine how any one could object 
to a measure so desirable as this Society proposes to ac- 
complish ; yet the abolitionists, true to their instincts^ have 
made the Society the object of their fiercest opposition and 
most violent denunciation, from the day of its organization 
to the present time. 

The parent Society holds meetings in "Washington City, 
annually. Auxiliary Societies have been formed in the 



COLONIZATION— SIERRA LEONE — LIBERLA. 167 

States of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, N'ew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, and Iowa. Maryland has a separate and inde- 
pendent organization; sending out her own colonists; 
and, in every way, acting for herself; her colony is Cape 
Pal mas. 

Many of the States have passed acts to favor the object 
of the Society. In 1817, Georgia passed an act, authoriz- 
ing the Governor to demand and receive "any Negroes, 
Mulattoes, or persons of color, as may have been, or here- 
after may be seized or condemned," under the act of Con- 
gress passed in 1807, prohibiting the importation of slaves 
after the 1st day of January, 1808. The act referred to, 
authorized the Governor to sell such slaves, or to turn 
them over to the Colonization Society, upon the Society 
paying " all expenses incurrred by the State, since they 
have been captured and condemned. His Excellency the 
Governor is authorized and requested to aid in promoting the 
benevolent views of said Society^ in such manner as he may 
deem expedientJ^ According to the provisions of this act, 
the Governor turned over to the Society thirty-four 
Africans, who were condemned "under the act of 1817 ; 
they were by the Society restored to their country. It is, 
perhaps, proper to remark here, that the General Govern- 
ment, by its agents, attends to the interests of re-captured 
Africans, and that the thirty-four above alluded to, were 
of that description. 



168 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Section 7. 

The Society having made the proper arrangements, in 
1821, sent out the first company of colonists. And here it 
should be remarked, " that Congress, on the od day of 
March, 1819, the last day of its session, passed an act au- 
thorizing the President of the United States to institute 
an agency in Africa, for the purpose of providing an asj^- 
lum for such Africans as should be liberated by our ships- 
of-war, from vessels seized in violation of the provis- 
ions of the law for the suppression of the slave-trade." 
Kev. Samuel Bacon, a minister of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, was appointed agent ; he had been previously 
in the service of the Society. As soon as M'r Bacon 
landed in Africa, and cast his eyes over the vast field 
that it presented, he exclaimed, '' What a field for evan- 
gelical labor amongst them ! How lamentable, that these 
fine people do not attract the notice of the religious world I" 
In a letter to a friend in Philadelphia, he says, " You may 
depend on it, there is work for us here ; there is work for 
missionaries, for teachers, for good men of all descriptions. 
I am struck with wonder at the native Africans. The 
sickly and depressed countenance of a Philadelphia color- 
ed man, is not to be seen amongst them. A noble aspect, 
a dignified mien, a frank and open countenance, is the 
entire demeanor of the wild man." 

The whole number of emigrants sent to Liberia by the 
Society, up to this time, (1855,) is eight thousand eight 
hundred and thirty-four; of this number, five thousand 
and twenty-seven were emancipated by their owners. 
The Maryland Colonization Society has sent to Africa 
about twelve hundred emigrants. We are not apprized 



COLONIZATION— SIEERA LEONE— LIBERIA. 16D 

of the number of free persons, included in the ]\[ary]and 
emigrants, but suppose it to be very small, not exceeding, 
perhaps, two hundred. The present population of Liberia 
is estimated at about ten thousand Americans and their 
children, and upwards of two hundred thousand natives. 
Many of the latter number were re-captured from slavers by 
our ships-of-war cruising on the African coast. By the 
treaty of AVashington, commonly called the Ashburton 
treaty, the principal object of which was the settlement of 
the northwestern boundary question, — a question left open 
from the period of the war of the Kevolution, it was agreed 
that both England and the United States should keep a 
naval armament, of not less than eighty guns, constantly 
on the African coast. By the vessels thus employed 
many vessels engaged in the slave trade are captured. 
The slaves from these captured vessels are conveyed to 
the colony, and turned over to an agent of the govern- 
ment, who looks after their welfare. In addition to the 
English and American ships-of-war employed on the Afri- 
can coast, the French Government has a force there. 
Notwithstanding the activity and vigilance of all these 
ships-of-war, five-sixths of the vessels engaged in the 
trade escape capture, and land and dispose of their cargoes. 
The Society, in the accomplishment of its undertaking, 
has raised much money. From the fact that during the 
early years of the Society, no distinction was made in the 
treasurer's accounts, it is impossible to ascertain how 
much was contributed by the South, and how much by 
the North ; but we have been kindly furnished, by Eev. 
W. M'Lain, Secretary of the Society, with the following 
table, which will show the contributions from the South- 
ern States for ten consecutive years : 
8 



1 T-H c-i ci i-H vd oj c<i o o CO co ^ 

be<IO0i— iCOCll^T— li— ll^COCOr-J 
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COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 171 

Section 8. 

The last United States census shows that there are in 
the Southern States two hundred and thirty-six thousand 
free persons of color. Whence came they ? The answer 
is, they were emancipated by their owners. Estimating 
the average value of these emancipated slaves to be five 
hundred dollars each, we have the aggregate sum of one 
hundred and eighteen millions of dollars. 

Free Negroes, as everybody except the abolitionist 
knows, are very objectionable amongst the slave popula- 
tion ; much of the mischief committed may be traced to 
them as its source. Besides, the liberty possessed by 
emancipated slaves here, is of no real benefit to them, but 
rather a disadvantage ; therefore, the legislatures of the 
respective States, in order to prevent the increase of their 
numbers, have been compelled to pass laws forbidding 
their emancipation. 

Has the South stopped at the bare emancipation of 
these slaves ? Not at all. As soon as it was fully under- 
stood that the freed slave realized no benefit from his 
new condition, means for the promotion of his well-being 
have been devised; for the truth of this remark we 
point to the Colonization Society. That organization is 
exclusively for the benefit of free persons of color. In 
Africa they may enjoy a real freedom ; a freedom that is 
only nominal here. 

By the table exhibited in the preceding section, it will 
be perceived that the aggregate sum received from the 
North and the South, is four hundred and eighty thou- 
sand, seven hundred and ninety-five dollars and forty- 
nine cents. Of this sum, the South contributed one hun- 



172 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

dred and sixty-five thousand, four hundred and fifty-four 
dollars and nine cents ; leaving to the North the sum of 
three hundred and fifteen thousand, three hundred and 
forty-one dollars and forty cents. At the first view, it 
would appear that the North has contributed much more 
than the South, but this supposition is removed by the 
fact, that the contributions of the South have been made 
in money and property, "VYe cannot state precisely the 
amount of property contributed by the South, but we 
may safely say, that six thousand slaves have been by 
their owners turned over to the Colonization Society. If 
these slaves be put down at their average value of five 
hundred dollars each, their aggregate value would be three 
millions dollars ; to this add the sum of one hundred and 
sixty-five thousand, four hundred and fifty-four dollars 
and nine cents, contributed in money, and we have the 
sum of three millions, one hundred and sixty-five thousand 
four hundred and fifty-four dollars and nine cents, as the 
amount directly advanced by the South in African Colon- 
ization. 

But, in order that we may see, in one view, the offerings 
of the South, direct and incidental, in the great enterprise 
of African emancipation^ to the above sum of three millions, 
one hundred and sixty-five thousand, four hundred and 
fifty-four dollars and nine cents, we must add the sum of one 
hundred and eighteen millions of dollars, as the value of the 
free persons of color now in the Southern States: then, 
we have the grand total oi one hundred and tiventy-one 
onillions^ one hundred and sixty-five thousand^ four hundred 
and fifty four dollars and nine cents, as the contribution of 
the South ! The world's history does not furnish another 
instance of such munificent and disinterested benevolence. 



«I&A 



COLONIZATION — SIERRA LEONE — LIBERIA. 173 

But we need pursue this subject no farther ; for what- 
ever else may be said of the operations of the African 
Colonization Society, passes more properly into the his- 
tory of Liberia: we conclude, therefore, by remarking, 
that there has never been an enterprise undertaken by 
Americans, that united in its support more, or as many, 
men of distinguished character, in all the walks of life, 
than the enterprise of African Colonization. Amongst the 
most conspicuous of its friends, now numbered with the 
dead, are Jeflferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Crawford, 
Clay, Kandolph, Washington and Marshall ; names which 
shall continue to gather fresh lustre, as they move down 
the stream of time, to the last. 

One word more and our task will be finished. While 
the good, the wise, the patriotic, have been engaged in 
building up a government, in whose destiny is involved 
countless millions of our race, what have the abolitionists 
been about? The answer is both brief and simple — 
hroodmg mischief and stealing Negroes. 



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